Wiltshire archaeological and natural history magazine

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THE

WILTSHIRE
Archeologeal and Hotural Wistory

MAGAZINE,

Publishes unver the Wireetion of the Suciety

FORMED IN THAT COUNTY A.D. 1853.

VOL. IX.

DEVIZES:
Heney Bott, 4, Saint JoHN STREET.
LONDON:
Bett & Datpy, 186, Fuzer Srezet; J, R. Surru, 36, Sono SQuaRE.

1866.

POTN UE
tata xpot TH1e8 2 une vera
o KOTAOI

mM - itt he tanaye vee $268

bis BBSE

CONTENTS OF VOL. IX.

g
No. XXYV.

PAGE

Account of the Tenth General Meeting, at Devizes, 18th 19th, and
20th August, 1863,—and Report........... 6020600. e ace e ee ee 1
A List of Articles ex hibited at the Temporary Museum, at Devizes .. 23
Devizes: By the Rey. Canon J. E. JacKSoN, F.S.A......... 28-44

On the Ornithology of Wilts, No. 11, [Insessores camenened. Ae By the
Rey. A. C. Smirm ....... a faeeiatad Voie tae) < fafepdetiola ie alas hares ate viesa sic 45-57

On the Flora of Wiltshire (No. VIII): By T. B, Fiowrr, Ese.,
Mott is xe. See MN CEM os fo08 s ooo ad Daman ess 58-81

Wiltshire County Gaols: By the Rey. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 82-87
On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wilts: By the Rev. J.E.Vizz 87-96

>
=
No. XXVI.
Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire: By the Rey.

A. C. SmrrH, Honorary Secretary, (with 4 plates)......... Sepa 97-136
The Merchants of the Staple, or the Wool Trade in England in the

“Olden Time: By the Rey. W. H. Jonus, MiA...............050. 137-159
Notes on the Flora of Silbury Hill: By J. 5 hen Esa. , F.LS.,

F.G.S., &c., Professor of Botany and Geology*:*:.............. 159-162
On the Seerotens of the Composite: By T. B, FLower, Esa., M. B.C.8.

PY COO by CEs yas a terete emeMeris cts sits olsini\aicis'eis els os oe Gare k cee cca 162-166
The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension, and Marlborough Rail-

ways: By T, Coprineron, Ese., F.G.S. (with 9 woodcuts) ...... 167 193
On the Early Life of Sir Thomas casas P.B.A.: By Mr. T. B.

-Smire (with a Photolithographic plate) .. m aleleyiee melon se tates hoe OUD
NEMEC Men nit aretas MEE ets (Gnu dialeeleice ve vbjscscccevrésess 205-208
Query—Family of Shuter of Winterbourne Gunner................ 208

‘ MUMMMIDYN: Ds htasets sie)ia niet oi,ae eset ewe oe os ACGresweon Sane 209
BARIRAD. i. Qc lee mmetene: sie n'vele Picdlinticnrahe's\s/e:\s'atete!sierersteve'e eta’ paces 210

iv. CONTENTS—VOL. IX. .
No. XXVII.
PAGE
Ornithology of Wilts, No. 12, [Insessores continued. issirostres.

By the Rev. A. C. Sure mis valateteharaterstets siete cTetele;siacaiarereve eee tea Sa. 211-222
Wiltshire Arms and Descents: By Mr. CLARENCE HOPPER.......... 223-231 —
Roman Remains found at Latton, Wilts: By Proresson Buckman,

Ts, ACen Me Saapratcerriateist Peletaia cow aie viuic a's cieiera/ele nu wreleyalale wiekaus 232-237

Flora of Wiltshire (No. [X.): By T, B. Frower, Esq., M.R.C.S..... 238-268
An Incised Marking on the Impost of the Great Trilithon at Stonehenge:

By Joun TaurwAm, Esq., M.D., FGA. 5.20200 ss00s Sees cane 268-277
List of Wiltshire Fresh-water and Terrestrial Shells: By the Rev.

is sR BRM asst ticr saa pice ar yrarg Cds: anon argon eves, cals arsine caste 278-281
Lord Clarendon and his Trowbridge Ancestry: By the Rev. W. H.

PONTE eas og Fess ate 7 Oe Zn bison aeie 2 nel nay ors seh Peveia(ms Veet 282-290

Extracts from the Pedigree of Hyde and Lamgford ..,...sccscsccscsecccrsoescececeereneeeenecsenes 282

On the Materials of Roman Querns: By Proressor Buckman, F.L.S.,

pM, eos. 2 ete ee OE ES DELO EE oe, 291-294
Letter fran the Antiquary Grose. .....cevesecscsseccccsececececs 295
Query—Family of Shuter of Winterbourne Granbress 5 jvemeetee eae 296
Donations toMnseunls fetta or eae Pgs occa eed et. A gleet Cs mes 297
Brains: city Apieooeaeeueee he LotR ALPE TREES > 297

. *
Illustrations.

Stone Implements, 121. Bone ditto, 121. Sepulchral Urns, 133. Necklace,
&c., 115. Fossil Sponge from Savernake, 170. Section of Green-sand and
Chalk at Stert, 173. Section of; Peat-Bed near Stert, 175. Chalk Section at
Lye-hill, 177. Section near Wootton Rivers, 178, Ditto near Warnhams,
179. Ditto ditto, 179. Ditto ditto,.180, ‘General Section of the Vale of
Pewsey, 186. Photolithographic engraving from a drawing by Lawrence,
194.

Varieties of ancient Incised. Markings on Stones, in’ Northumberland, 268,
Ancient ditto on Rocks near the Crinan Moss, Argyleshire, 269. Incised
Marking on the Impost of the Great Trilithon at Stonehenge, from a sketch
by Dr. Tate, 272. Ditto ditto, from a rubbing by Dr, Thurnam, 273.

a THE

: WILTSHIRE

| Arrhealagical amt Botueal Wistory

x ®

MAGAZINE,

t 7 ae
No. XXV. NOVEMBER® 1864. Vou. IX.
* . .
=
‘ . 9 “s
”
EY. Contents, P
* ; PAGE
Account oF THE TENTH GENERAL Meerine, at Devizes, 18th,
19th, and 20th Avaust, 1863,—and Report.................. 1
A List oF ARTICLES paeup aT THE TEMPORARY MusgEuM, aT .
DEVIZES ...: SEALS in... RRR CAI nr poeta pei ice bona 23
ss ‘Devizes: By the Rey. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A............... 28-44
On tHE OrniTHOLosy or Witrs, No. 11, [Insessores continued,]
ie By the Rev. A. C. Smith. <Fihgy Stes ne ey ico ass Par oo 45-57
_ Ow tHe Frora or WixtsHIRE (No. VII) 5, By T. B. Flower, Esq.,
oh SM, PM Co ay as ee een se: 58-81
-Writsarre Counry Gaots: By the Rev. Canon J. BY Jackson, FSA 82-87
On THE DAND AND T'REsi-WAaTER SHELLS oF Wits; By the Rev, *—
NS en, erred SRA RON eh ea "87-96
: a - ° 7 * 2
4 a _ ’
*.
; —
: DEVIZES:
Heyry Bort, Sirnr Jonny Srreer.

LONDON:

ee # —
ELL & Dany, 186, Freer Street; J. R. Suira, 36, Sono Sevan,

we

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE
*

‘< WULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS.”— Ovid.

THE TENTH GENERAL MEETING
OF rag
Wiltshire Archrological and Natural History Society,
HELD AT DEVIZES,
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 18th, 19th, and 20th August,
1863. ~

PRESIDENT OF THE MEETING,

THe Right Hon. Ear NeEtson.

ee Tate Society opened its Tenth General Meeting on Tuesday,
ie) the 18th August, in the Town-Hall, Devizes, this being its
fest visit since its Inauguration there in October, 1853. The room
was well filled by ladies and gentlemen from various parts of the
county.

ARL Nerson commenced’ the proceedings by calling on the

. A. C. Smith, one of the Secretaries, to read the

| ° REPORT FOR 1863.
“The Committee’ of the Wiltshire Archeological and Natural

2 History Society, desires to congratulate the members on the -

flourishing state of, the Society at the Po a of this, the
tenth year of its existence.
__ “The number of members now on the books amounts to 387,
being about equal to the highest figure they_have hitherto had to ~
record in their annual report; and this, though they have lost by
death or removal from the county or otherwise, no less than 25 of
their body since this time last year. ’
IX.—NO. XXV. , B

2 The Tenth General Meeting.

* Among these the Committee desires in particular to mention,
with special regret, the late Marquis of Lansdowne, who from the
very first took a lively interest in our Society, an interest which
he continued to show to the last year of his life: who kindly came
forward as our first Patron to inaugurate the Society ten years since
in this very room; and whose magnificent hospitality at Bowood
on the occasion of the Chippenham Meeting in 1855, our members
will not readily forget.

“ Another noble member whose death we are also called upon to
deplore this year, is the late Earl of Mornington, who also threw
open his house and grounds at Draycot, and no less liberally
entertained the Society at the same Annual Meeting: and there
are many other valuable members whose loss we have to lament
during the past year.

“ With regard to the work of the Society since the last Annual
Meeting: two fresh numbers of the Magazine have been issued,
the merits of which we must leave it to the members to determine;
and a third Magazine (No. 23) is now in hand, and considerably
advanced towards completion. This 8th volume will also contain
an Index to the whole, prepared by Canon Jackson.

“In respect to finance, your Committee need only state that
while every farthing of income is expended in the work of the
Society, the expenditure is counterbalanced by the subscriptions;
and retaining our capital in hand, there are no outstanding debts
to hamper the future progress of the Society. *

“The Museum and Library have been enriched by various dona-
tions during the past year: among which we would gratefully
record sundry fossils presented by Dr. Thurnam, and others by
Mr. Ezekiel Edmonds; twelve volumes of Notes and Queries by
the Rev. E. H. Sladen; some Pamphlets by Mr. Akerman and
Mr. Roach Smith; and some Tradesmen’s Tokens by Miss.
Cunnington. |

“So far, your Committee has briefly recorded the progress of the
Society since this time last year. But as this Annual Meeting sees ©
the Society again assembled in the capital town of North Wilts,
the central town of the county—the seat moreover of its Museum

e
®

The Tenth General Meeting. 8

and Library, and, in short, the head-quarters of the Society ;—-as
moreover the completion of its tenth year seems to mark the first
epoch of its existence ;—your Committee think it may be of interest
to state very shortly the progress of the Society since its formation
in 1853, together with a brief outline of its work, and the results
attained hitherto. It will then be seen how steadily it has advanced
without a single drawback to the present moment.

“The Society was inaugurated in Devizes in October, 1853,
under the auspices of the then Lord Lieutenant of the county;
and before the close of the year, 137 members enrolled themselves
as belonging to its ranks. In 1854, the first Annual Meeting was
held at Salisbury, when the numbers announced as belonging to
the Society were 281. This period of its existence may well be
termed its infancy, during which its growth was very rapid, when
it was pushing its way into notice both in the north and south of
the county, making itself heard and seen in either division, and
claiming and receiving general encouragement. But since the

year 1854, the Society has been fairly launched in the county, to
stand or fall by its own merits: and your Committee confidently
appeals to the testimony of its members, and puts forward its
present flourishing condition in proof that it still enjoys the
approval of those who compose it. For to resume our sketch of its
past proceedings: in 1825, the Annual Meeting took place at Chip-
penham, when a still further increase. was shown, the members
_ then numbering 355. In 1856, the Society met at Warminster.
- In 1857, at Bradford. In 1858 it was thought advisable to have
_ né Annual Meeting, in consequence of the visit of the two great
_ Archeological Societies within or close upon our own peculiar dis-
trict (the Institute at Bath, and the Association at Salisbury), but
i in lieu thereof, an evening meeting, which was numerously
~ attended, was held in this town. In 1859 Marlborough was the
; ~ locality visited : in 1860 Swindon was selected for the Congress:
_ in 1861 Shaftesbury: in 1862 Malmesbury: and now in 1863 we
have come back again to Devizes to celebrate our jubilee at the
home of the Society, after vibrating backwards and forwards from
rth to South, and from East to West; alternating as nearly as
. BQ

4 The Tenth General Meeting.

was possible in both divisions of our county. And during all these
years our numbers have been steadily advancing; while we some-
what more than fill in the gaps annually caused in our ranks by
death and other circumstances, till now we are in round. numbers
approaching the goodly figure 400.

“And then with regard to our objects and their accomplishment
your Committee has every cause for congratulation and encourage-
ment. Fresh objects of Antiquarian interest have from time to
time been brought to light in various parts of the county, mainly
through the instrumentality of the members of this Society. The
Natural History of the county is gradually becoming developed in
several of its more important branches: and in short, both the
Antiquities and the Natural History of Wiltshire have become
much better known by its means during the last ten years.

“Then as to the publications of the Society. Seven volumes of
the Wiltshire Magazine have been completed, containing a con-
siderable number of papers on a great variety of subjects, but all
calculated to elucidate the history past and present of our county.
To its editor, Canon Jackson, the Society is again indebted for the

‘publication of that work which has so much redounded to its credit,

the Collections of Aubrey, greatly enlarged, which the Society was
last year privileged to publish: and to which your Committee very
confidently points, as of the greatest utility in supplying materials
whether for the history of the county generally, or of the several
parishes which compose it.

“From this slight sketch of its career to the present time, may
be seen the gradual onward progress of the Society. It has not
only never gone back, but it bas never, for an instant, stood still;
and your Committee still looks forward with confident hopes to
seeing its operations extending into every corner of the county,
and its numbers yet farther considerably increased by the enrol-
ment of many new members. For though amply satisfied, and
more than satisfied, with its progress to the present time, we desire
to see it start again from this period with renewed vigour; aig
covering what has been hidden; clearing up what is obscure;
peretrating into what is concealed; diving into the mysteries of

The Tenth General Meeting. 5

past ages: and absorbing within its circle, not only as a member,
but as a worker, every intelligent inhabitant of the county, every
one in short who has any interest in the past and present history
of Wiltshire.”

The Report was adopted unanimously, and the officers of the
Society rée-elected, the Rev. W. H. Jones, Vicar of Bradford-on- —

- Avon, being added to the General Committee.

Fart Netson then read a letter from Mr. Moody, Curator of
the Museum at, Winchester, in which he offered for the acceptance
of the Society a copy of his recent work, entitled “Hampshire in
1086,” being a translation of the portion of Domesday Book rela-
ting to Hampshire, accompanied with notes, identifying, as far as
possible, the modern parishes or manors corresponding to the various
entries. The present was, we need hardly say, received with
thanks by the members.

Eart Netson then addressed the meeting :—‘It is expected, I
find,” said his Lordship, ‘‘that as your President I should make a
few preliminary observations to you. In considering on what
points I should especially dwell, it has struck me, that, as this is
the Tenth Meeting of the Society, it might be well perhaps to take
a short review of the progress of the study of Archzology in this
county, and to add a few words on the prospect of its future
developement. As to the study itself we may deem it inexhaustible,
or well nigh so, since every elucidation of the history of a county
opens fresh subjects for enquiry; and I hope to be able to shew,

& that although I, and many perchance around me, cannot pretend
to those peculiar attainments which are necessary to produce a good
_ Archeologist, or Natural Historian, yet that we, nevertheless, the
‘small fry’ so to speak, may each in our own neighbourhood, like
_ Aubrey of old, do much by preserving the records of the locality
_ in which we live, and so assist the work in which the Society is
engaged.
On looking back at the history of Archeology in this county, |
x on a publication issued more than 80 years ago,—viz.,
yndham’s ‘ Wiltshire, extracted from Domesday Book,’—as the
irst rea/ attempt to excite a general interest in the topography of

-
‘a

6 , The Tenth General Meeting.

Wiltshire. Five years before the appearance of this volume, a two
vol. folio edition of the complete Domesday had appeared, but from
its being in contracted Latin, and printed with peculiar abbrevia-
tions, that book was—I may almost add still is,—a sealed book
to the many. It was a great step therefore taken when the pertion
of Domesday relating to Wiltshire was published in a form intel- —
_ ligible to ordinary readers, and accompanied with a translation.
In his preface to his work, Mr. Wyndham expressly speaks of it,
as a ‘prelude to the history of the county,’ and promises a generous
subscription towards carrying out the object which he had in view.

“As a first result of Mr. Wyndham’s publication, J may name
Sir R. C. Hoare’s ‘Ancient History of Wilts,’ and the ‘ Modern
History,’ more or less, of the fifteen southern hundreds of the county.
In this last named work he was assisted by several learned and
zealous fellow-labourers, and amongst others by my own excellent
friend and relative, Mr. Matcham, whose presence to-day I cannot
pass over, without acknowledging the honor that he has paid me, on
this the first occasion of my taking upon myself the office of Presi-
dent of the Society, since he is now the only representative left of that
band of zealous men, who in times past worked so hard to preserve
and revive an interest in the Archeology of this county (applause).
As a next result of Mr. Wyndham’s work, I will mention sundry
important contributions by Sir Thomas Phillips, especially the
‘ Wiltshire Institutions,’ a book privately printed, containing a list
of the Incumbents and Patrons of the various Benefices in Wilt-
shire from the end of the 13th century. Then followed Moffat’s
‘ History of Malmesbury,’—then those of ‘ Bremhill’ and ‘Lacock’
by Bowles and Nichols—and Benson’s and Hatcher’s ‘Salisbury,’
which, though published in Sir R. C. Hoare’s work, is deserving of
especial notice.

“ But in addition to these publications, much has been done by
way of facilitating the researches of literary men since the com-
mencement of the present century. There has been, for instance,
the new edition of Dugdale’s ‘ Monasticon Anglicanum,’ a work o
especial interest to a county, in which at least one fifth of all the
land belonged at one time or other to some Religious House. Then

The Tenth General Meeting. 7

again there have been Thorpe’s ‘Ancient Laws and Institutes of
England ;’ the ‘Monumenta Historica Britanica,’ published by
the Record Commission ; Kemble’s ‘ Codex Diplomaticus,’ or collec-
tions of Anglo-Saxon charters, no less than 150 of which relate to
properties in Wilts or on the borders of the county. In addition
to these, there have been various publications issued during the
last few years, under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, which
may incidentally help the topographer. Nor ought I to omit
mention of the important concession made now to literary men, of
free access to the various records of the kingdom, from which such
abundant materials may be gleaned by those who have the oppor-
tunity and ability to avail themselves of them, illustrative of almost
every branch of County History. And then, among special efforts,
must be named the ‘ Parochial History ’ scheme, originated by the
Rev. Prebendary Wilkinson, of Broughton Gifford, and still being
carried out under the immediate sanction of the Bishop of Salis-
bury, which has already been the means of producing several
. interesting and valuable manuscripts, and which, it is confidently
hoped, will ultimately provide material additions to our topo-
3 graphical stores.
It is not surprising, that, with these and other stimulants,
E Archeology seems to have taken fresh life. Wiltshire men have
_ been amongst those who have exhibited abundant tokens of ac-
_ tivity. Asa proof of this I need but refer to the publication of
_ ‘Malmesbury Charters’ with a most clear and lucid explanation by
_ our fellow-countyman Mr. Akerman, in the Archeologia,—to the
Histories of Devizes and Marlborough, by Mr. Waylen, of this
neighbourhood ;—to the monographs of South Wraxall and Great
Chaldfield, by Mr. Walker ;—of Codford St. Mary, by the late
q learned Anglo-Saxon scholar, Dr. Ingram ;—of Grittleton, by
- Canon Jackson ;—of Castle Combe, by Mr. Poulett Scrope ;—of
several other parishes, the accounts of which have from time to time
_ appeared in the Society’s Magazine. Nor must I forget Canon
_ Jackson’s magnificent contribution to the History of most of thé

8 The Tenth General Meeting.

utifity in supplying materials whether for the history of the county
generally or of the several parishes which compose it.’

“ But notwithstanding past progress, there is every prospect of —

future developement. As I based my history of the past by referring
to Wyndham’s Domesday as its real commencement, so I will ven-
ture to begin my hopes for the future by reference to a book of
similar character, which is now being prepared for the press by my
friend, the Rev. W. H. Jones, Vicar of Bradford-on-Avon. As the
contracted Latin of the folio was the origin of Mr. Wyndham’s work,
so the late publication of the fac-simile of Domesday suggested the
desirableness of an accompanying version, which, with the aids and
and helps afforded since Wyndham’s time, should interpret it. It
is proposed that the volume should contain :—I. An accurate copy
of the Great Domesday for Wiltshire, printed in such a form as to
be easily understood, accompanied by a close translation, and illus-
trated, when necessary, by explanatory notes.—II. That portion of
the Exon Domesday which contains the ‘Inquisitio Geldi,’ or
‘Taxation of the Hundreds’ of Wiltshire.—III. A complete
analysis of the preceding records. The modern names of the
estates, where they can be identified will be given, and the sources
indicated whence further information can be obtained respecting
them.—IV. A general Introduction, in which the results of the
survey, as far as Wiltshire is concerned, will be fully explained.
I can only express my hope that such a work, by opening up sources
of information, which to many of us will be new, may stimulate us
all to fresh exertions in those subjects for the due examination of
which this Society was established.

“This mass of information already furnished, or about to be
made available, suggests the probability of a complete history of
the county at no very distant date. Of any account of the Sournern
Hunpreps, Sir R. C. Hoare’s History should be the basis,
though we must not forget that one of those Hundreds,—viz., that
of Kinwardston,—is wholly omitted from that work. Happily many
materials are at hand to supply the deficiency in Canon Jackson’s
‘Aubrey,’ and Mr. Ward’s ‘Great Bedwin.’ Of the NorrHern
Hvnprevs no history has as yet been attempted, though for them

The Tenth General Meeting. “19

also materials may be found in abundance both in ‘ Aubrey,”and

in the various numbers of the ‘ Wiltshire Magazine.’ By reference
to Mr. Poulett Scrope’s first Inaugural Address, I find that a com-
plete County History was suggested as the special work of the
Society, and I cannot help thinking that every year we seem to be
getting nearer to the realization of this great object. Indeed,
without the Society, even the Parochial History scheme can have
but partial success, inasmuch as the Diocese of Sarum is not now
co-extensive with the county of Wilts. And a special advantage
that the Society presents is this, that any amendments, or additions,
which fresh matter may render necessary, may be first printed in
its Magazine, and there discussed or verified.

“T ought not to pass over without a remark the diligence
shewn by the Society in the branch of Natural History. The
Papers printed in the Magazine by Mr. Bruges Flower, on the
‘Flora of Wilts,’—by Mr. Poulett Scrope on its ‘ Geology,’—and by
one of the Secretaries, Mr. A. C. Smith on its ‘ Ornithology,’—are
worthy of much commendation. In fact I see work enough in
hand in both of the branches of study for the cultivation of which
the Society was formed, to last for many along day. Each fresh
help in elucidating the history of the past, opening up again the
whole subject, and obliging the student to retrace the path he may
have trodden, and to correct, modify, or strengthen, by new matter

lt ie eh le

that from time to time is brought in, any foregone conclusions at
which he may have arrived.

“This brings me to the share of work which we, the ‘small fry’
may accomplish, and which can hardly be done without our aid.
_ In the first place, there are many charters, referring to various
_ families or localities, which may be made available, but it is only
those who are interested in a given family or neighbourhood that
can perform the great work of bringing these evidences together,
and I would therefore designate as the principal of our works the
collecting all we can in reference to those places or families in
be _ we may have such an interest. Take, for example, Hardy’s
Calendar of the Patent Rolls,’ of the date of King John, and that
Kng es Itinerary,’ worked out upon the dates of those Rolls. You-

10 The Tenth General Meeting.

will find, on looking on the latter compilation, that King John paid
fifteen visits to Devizes, and no doubt signed five times fifteen
documents at this place. Much interesting matter in relation to
Devizes might perhaps be found in those documents. And there can
be little doubt that if the substance of deeds given at different
places in Wilts could be collected, much would be found to illus-
trate the history of the times and places, but as these deeds are
most numerous, and written in contracted Latin, this work can
only be carried out in a long period of time, and by many hands.
Then, second/y, we may do much by ferreting out and preserving
old names of persons and things in our neighbourhoods. Sometimes
an important historical fact is wrapped up inaname. We know that
within a few miles of my own residence there were long continued
struggles between the Britons and the invading Saxons; and it is
therefore most interesting to trace in Brit-ford, or ‘ford of the
Britons, and Chard-ford (originally Cerdices-ford), that is, the ‘ ferd
of Cerdic,’ the leader of the Saxons, the lingering memorials of
these early contests. Then too, to come to somewhat later times,
we have, in parishes bordering on the New Forest, families bearing
the names of ‘ King,’ ‘ Prince,’ and ‘ Duke,’ which may have origi-
nated possibly in their ancestors having been King’s-men, Prince’s-
men, or Duke’s-men, employed in the chase. Again, in working
out boundaries of ancient manors by means of the land-limits in
Saxon charters, names long lost may be recovered, or meanings of
existing names, often strangely distorted from their original form,
ascertained. An instance occurs to me of a friend of mine working
out such a boundary between Wilts and Somerset, near what is
called Pomeroy, seeking at a certain point for the name Swin-
brook. All traces of the word seemed to be lost, until he chanced
on an old man of more than seventy, who remembered an old
farmer when he was himself but a boy, that held land in the im-
mediate neighbourhood, who persisted in calling his farm by the
name of Swinbrook, and was laughed at for putting ‘ Swinbrook farm’
upon his waggons.—And then there is a third way in which
we may most certainly lend a helping hand, and that is by
being very careful in preserving architectural remains, or an
accurate record of them when it becomes absolutely necessary

The Tenth General Meeting. 11

‘ that they should be removed. We may thus do for others what

Aubrey did for us, and handing down the records that exist in our
churches or manor houses, endble others who come after us to
continue the work. One way at all events is open to us which was
not to Aubrey,—I mean taking care that no church should be
restored, or the building pulled down without a photograph being
first taken of it. In all these ways we may (I think) render im-
portant help to the Archaology of our county, and contribute
materials which more skilful hands may weave at last into a con-
sistent and interesting narrative.” .

_ Earn Netson then made a remark on the way in which the
Natural History department of the Society might be forwarded, by
sending clearly established facts to be recorded from time to time
in the Magazine. He then referred to the scenes and subjects on

__ which the attention of the members would be occupied during their

meeting at Devizes, and concluded by calling on Canon Jackson to

_ read his Paper on Devizes, which will be found in the present

number of the Magazine.

On leaving the Town-Hall, the party at once proceeded to the

4
“

Castle, where they were hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs.
Leach, and shown through the entire suite of lower rooms—the old
_ furniture of which (in accordance with the general design of the
a building) was greatly admired. The beautiful grounds and the
_ dungeons of the ancient castle were then inspected, and the com-
pany lingered so long among the attractions of the place, that it
was at least 4 o’clock before St. John’s Church was reached. Here
| Mr. Kite, with a diagram, ably described the original form of the
-Chureh, and the successive alterations which had from time to time
~ been made in it.

_ As five o’clock had now nearly arrived, and as the dinner was
- announced for that hour, very few found time to visit Mr. Tugwell’s
collection of birds, or Mr. Cunnington’s museum, a visit to the latter

_ interesting collection being postponed till the following morning.
*.

e. THE DINNER.
This took place at the Bear Inn, under the presidency of Earl

12 The Tenth General Meeting.

Nelson. The Society was much indebted to the Marquis of Ailesbury,
the Marquis of Bath, and Mrs. Colston for their handsome presents
of venison. Among the company present were the Mayor of
Devizes, Mr. Ewart, M.P., Mr. Matcham, Mr. Merewether, Mrs.
and Miss Penruddocke, Mr. H. Long, Captain Bellers, Mr. H. J. F.
Swayne, Mr. Alexander (Highworth), Mr. Leach, the Rev. B.
Winthrop and family, the Rector of Devizes, the Rev. A. Smith,
the Rev. J. Wilkinson, the Rev. W. Norris, the Rev. M. W. Mayow,
the Rev. W. H. Jones, the Rev. W. Ewart, the Rev. H. Methuen,
the Rev. E. Everett, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Churton, the Rev, F.
Goddard, the Rev. B. C. Dowding, the Rev. W. Andrews, the
Rev. W. T. Wyld, the Rev. F. H. Buckerfield, the Hon. and Rev.
S. Best, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Newbolt, Mr. and Mrs. Codrington,
Mr. H. V. and Mrs. Hulbert, Mr. and Mrs. Wittey, Mr. and Mrs.
Thornley, Mr. 8. B. Dixon, jun., Mr. Bruges Flower, Mr. John
and Mr. James Noyes, Mr. J. Nightingale, Mr. W. Teale, Mr,
T. B. Anstie, Mrs. Britton (widow of the late antiquary), and
several ladies.—The Rev. Canon Jackson, the Rev. A. C. Smith,
and Mr. Cunnington occupied the vice-chairs.

A few toasts were drank—the first, of course, that of Her Majesty
‘and the Royal Family.

The Bishop and Clergy followed, on whose behalf the Rev.
W.H. Teale, Rector of Devizes, responded. He observed that
every one was interested in the study of Archeology ; for if not to
know the events of past ages is to remain a child in experience,
the science which unfolds to us the vestiges of the past in characters
more durable and often more reliable and instructive than even his-
torical records, could not but commend itself to the favourable atten-
tion of all inquiring minds. Indeed the history of our own country,

“in its races, language, and institutions, in literature, art and science,
receives its best illustration in the records of an Archeologist.
And while to all intelligent persons this study is interesting, it is
especially so to the Clerzy—at least so it might be inferred, he
thought, from the great number of Clergy present, and about to
take part in the proceedings of this Meeting—two of the Papers
to-day and all the Papers to-morrow being contributed by clergy-

———

The Tenth General Meeting. 13

men. Nor could we be surprised at this; for although always
apting themselves and their teaching to the needs and circum-
stances of the times in which they lived, still the immutable truths
which they taught—the churches, vestments, and language
of their formularies—nay, the very names they bore, are all
more or less connected with the past. Such being the case, no
wonder that the Clergy should be interested in the progress of a
science which was so much akin to the principle upon which their
own special studies and ministrations are founded—a principle
which in an age of change and innovation it is not always easy to

x

maintain.

SS ae ee
2 rs

‘* Seek the ancient fountains, and of ages past

Take counsel reverently.”’

. The next toast was the Army and Navy, and the Volunteers,
’ which was appropriately acknowledged by Capt. Bellers.

- Lorp Nerson then proposed the health of the Lord-Lieutenant
and the Magistrates of the County, and with it he would couple
_ the name of Mr. Matcham, who had honored the company with his
_ presence at the meeting, and had expressed to him (Lord Nelson)
his determination of going with them through all he excur-

sions.
os : Mr. Martcuam said whether he was to return thanks as the senior
magistrate or as an antiquated antiquarian he scarcely knew. In
both capacaties however he begged to return them his best thanks.
_ He was sure that the Magistracy of this county had every dispo-
sition to render any assistance in their power to a Society of this
_ description. They were the principal land-owners in the county,

and as such they possessed the means of assistance, and he was quite
a that assistance would never be wanting from them. With

2 Hoare. As the only representative of that tee of
f scholars and gentlemen who had the peculiar privilege of par-
ticipating in the hospitality of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, he begged

14 The Tenth General Meeting.

to thank them for the unmerited attention which they had paid

him. %

Lorp Netson said his next toast was the health of the House
of Commons, and he wished to connect with it a near neighbour
of theirs who had kindly joined them to-day, Mr. Ewart.

Mr. Ewart, M.P., said that the only thing upon which he
disagreed with the noble Lord was with that part of his speech in
which he had been pleased to put a slight upon his own Archeo-
logical knowledge. He (Lord Nelson) had made a most excellent
Archeological speech. And with regard to Canon Jackson, he
conld only say of him that he was ‘‘an Archeological fact.” No
one who ever heard him once, but must wish to hear him twice;
and not only the archeological, but the romantic manner in which
he had traced the history of Devizes must have delighted every
person who had listened to his excellent paper. He (Mr. Ewart)
would like to go so far as to make the common people of the country
take an interest in archeology, and for that purpose he would
give a short account of any archeological remains which might be
found in their respective parishes, so that the people might learn
to connect History with existing monuments; and see, ‘in their
illustrations, the history of their country.

The health of the Society’s new Patron, the present Lord
Lansdowne, was next drunk.

Mr. MereweruHer rose with great pleasure, to execute the most
pleasurable task of the entertainment—that of drinking the health
of their President (applause). None of them who had listened to
the address which Lord Nelson delivered in the Hall that morning
could have doubted the sincerity of purpose with which he took the
chair and attached himself to the Society, or have failed to value
the ready practical suggestions which he threw out—especially that
of retaining the recollection of old buildings by means of photo-
graphy. He was happy to tell them that although his lordship
had been pleased to place himself with the “small fry,” he would
only escape out of this year’s frying-pan by getting into the next,
the Society having secured his services for three years. He
then called upon the company to testify their appreciation of

The Tenth General Meeting. | 15

his lordship’s services by drinking his good health, which they did
most heartily.
_. Lorp Netsoy said Mr. Merewether had not gone so far as to tell
them what was going to happen to him after his escape from his
present frying-pan, or whether his next essay would be from the
frying-pan into the fire; because it must have been evident, from
his address, that he was no archeologist. He had come there for the
purpose of learning; and as they had done him the honor to request
him to act as President of the Society, he had done his best to ac-
quaint himself with some of the chief principles of it; and he really
hopéd, coming to them bona-fide as a learner, that he might derive
great benefit from his visit, and that, after the frying and the
_ roasting, he might at last know a little more of Archeology than
at present. He would not occupy their time further, because there
were other toasts. The first was the health of their Secretaries ;
and when they knew the labors which Canon Jackson and the Rev.
A. C. Smith had performed—what they had done for the Society—
the Papers they had written in the Magazine—and the Papers, one
of which had been delivered, and the other which was going to be
_ delivered by them at this Meeting, he had only to mention the
i ‘names of those gentlemen to ensure them that warm reception of
which they were worthy.
The Rev. Canon Jackson in returning thanks reminded the
company that Devizes was the nursery of the Society, and that they
3 had employed the ten years that had elapsed since their first
_ Meeting here in travelling about the county, and visiting its
_ different towns, affording, he hoped, amusement and information
where they had gone—and not stopping, until like that respectable
citizen of credit and renown,

“Where they had got up,, |
They did again get down.”

In their journies, he was glad to say, they had not met with such
disasters as befel John Gilpin, but still disasters had befallen them.
They might preserve buildings and places from decay, but could
not preserve themselves—as a proof of which he need only refer
3 to the loss they had sustained by the deaths of Mr. Carrington, Mr.

16 The Tenth General Meeting.

m

Ward, Mr. Long, and other gentlemen, who were at all times ready _
to give their valuable assistance either as contributors to te
Archzological Magazine or in any other way in which they could
serve the Society.

The Rev. A. C. Smira wished, as there were a good many of the
Clergy present, to take the opportunity of saying a word upon a
subject to which Lord Nelson had alluded in his opening address
at the Hall. The Bishop, as they were aware, had taken up the
subject of Parochial History, and had made him (Mr. Smith) Sec-
retary, and he hoped all present would help by every means in their
‘power—by answering the questions that were addressed to them—
to put forward the scheme.

The next toast was “the Local Committee,” and the health of
the Mayor of Devizes, in. proposing which Lord Nelson took the
opportunity of expressing his acknowledgments, on behalf of the
Society, for the handsome manner in which the town had come for-
ward to receive them, and for the readiness with which the authori-
ties had granted them the loan of their municipal charters for in-
spection in their museum.

The health of “the Curators of the Museum” followed. Mr.
Cunnington said it was a great pleasure to him—having taken
part in establishing the Society—to see it, in its tenth year, so well
supported. He could not however help feeling deep regret at the
loss ofone of their first members, their late Patron (Lord Lansdowne),
because it was mainly owing to his willingness and kind support,
when first applied to, to purchase the library and collection of arts
and antiquities of the late Mr. John Britton (whose widow honored
them that day with her company)—that their Society was es-
tablished. He might add that although the present temporary
museum at the Town-Hall was not so imposing in general appear-
ance as the museum which was formed at Salisbury in 1854—owing
to the present one being arranged in three rooms, while that at
Salisbury was all concentrated in one room—still he did not hesi-
tate to say that it was the most valuable museum. they had had—
with the exception of thé missals and other valuable relics from
the Cathedral of Salisbury, which they could not of course expect

E The Tenth General Meeting. 17

with the exception of the missals and other valuable relics from the

athedral of Salisbury, which they could not of course expect to

have. They could not fail however to have been struck with the

_- beautiful portraits by Lawrence which had been kindly contributed
by Mr. Ewart—some of the best specimens of that great artist ;
the charming sketch which Mr. Norris had lent them; the two
drawings belonging to Mr. Smith, and the very beautiful little
picture lent by the Rev. Peter Peace—all of them splendid speci-
mens of one, who, as they knew, was the son of a former landlord
and landlady of the inn in which they were now assembled.

Eart Netson then proposed the health of the Secretary to the
Local Committee (Mr. W. Hillier), and the company soon after-
wards repaired to the Town-Hall.

At the conversazione at 7.30 p.m., the Noble President, having
taken the chair, called upon the Rev. A. C. Smith to read his ~
Paper on “ Vestiges of the earliest inhabitants of Wiltshire.”

Mr. Smiru first begged to call the attention of the meeting to a
large map of a portion of the North Wiltshire Downs near Avebury,
comprising 100 square miles, which he had for some time been pre-
_ paring. He regretted that the Downs were being daily brought
more and more into cultivation; the result of which was the des-
truction of the many earthworks which had abounded on those hills.
_ He had therefore thought it well some years since to record care-
& ~ fully on a map on a large scale the exact position of such barrows
and earthworks as still remain, before some of them were ploughed
_ over and effaced. The map was not nearly completed, but it
¢ ‘showed the abundance of British earthworks which still remain.
_ From thus occupying himself with early British antiquities he had
_ ventured to draw up a sketch of those ancient times and people.
_ Mr. Smrru then read his paper, which will appear in the Maga-
_ zine, and of which therefore it is unnecessary to give an outline.
_ He dwelt especially on the value of every fact and of every frag-
ment which would throw light on those prehistoric times, and
whilst advocating the greatest caution in admitting proofs, depre-
cated the scepticism which would refuse credence to anything con-
nected with those remote but deeply interesting ages.

VOL. 1X.—NoO, XXy. o

18 The Tenth General Meeting.

Dr. Tournam was then called on ;—hesaid that he had not prepared
a paper, from his many engagements, but would offer some few re~
marks, which he hoped would be useful, on the subject of British
Pottery—calling attention chiefly to the difference of shape and
workmanship as proving the earlier or later date of the urns and
other pottery found.

Mr. Matcuam then rose to suggest that the Celts were not quite
such “ Hottentots” as the Rev. A. C. Smith had described them.
He thought it was quite in the range of probability that they were
more polished than we generally gave them credit for, traces of
foundations of villages being sometimes found in more regular
order than the straggling pits or huts spoken of. He said we were
more indebted to Mr. Cunnington (grandfather of the present
. Mr. W. Cunnington), than to any other man, for the knowledge we
possessed of the nature and formation of British villages.

From Mr. Matcham’s view of the case Mr. W, Cunnington differed
in toto. He said he was sorry to differ from Mr. Matcham as an
Archeologist; but looking at the state of the Esquimaux, he
did not see why we should accord to the Celts some 2000 years ago
more skill in the art of building than to the rude dwellers of the north
in the present time. He then proceeded to describe a barrow which
was opened at Beckhampton; after which, the President thanked
those gentlemen who had addressed the meeting, and the company
then adjourned to the different rooms to inspect the curiosities of
Archeology and Natural History, and in this way brought a very
pleasant day to a conclusion at about half-past 10 o’clock.

SECOND DAY. WEDNESDAY, Avcvusr 19ru.

The weather was extremely unpropitious, and the number of
excursionists accordingly limited. The first place visited was
Bromyam Cuurcu. .

- This was inspected under the guidance of the Rev. Mr. Edgell.
The principal feature in the church is the Beauchamp chapel. The
manor before the 15th century belonged to the ancient family of
Roche, some of whom were buried in the parish Church. About
the year 1410 the estate passed by the marriage of a co-heiress,

The Tenth General Meeting. 19

_ Elizabeth Roche, to Sir Walter Beauchamp, second son of John
rd Beauchamp, of Powyk. They were the parents of Sir Wm.
Beauchamp, Lord St. Amand, and of Richard Beauchamp who was
Bishop of Salisbury from A.D. 1450 to 1481. The Bishop has
been called the Wykeham of his age. To him was entrusted the
superintendence of the new building of the Collegiate Chapel at
Windsor Castle: and he also erected, on the South side of Salisbury
Cathedral, a beautiful family chapel, which no longer exists. There
can be little doubt that the Chapel at Bromham, as well as that on
the South side of St. John’s Church, Devizes, were also his work.
In the centre of the Bromham Chapel is the tomb of Sir Roger
Tocotes second husband of the Lady Elizabeth widow of William

Lord St. Amand.

The company then proceeded to the site of a Roman Villa near
_ §$t. Edith’s Marsh, but were disappointed on finding that every
vestige of it had been removed. They then passed by Nonsuch

House, and Sloperton Cottage, the residence of Thomas Moore, and

; now of his widow, to Spy Park. Thence they travelled to Hxp-
_ pincTon CuurcH. The weather forbidding an entertainment on
; the open Downs, it was prepared in the village school-room, after
E: which, the afternoon becoming fine, they continued their ride to
_ Oliver’s camp, and Morgan’s Hill, and thence to Bisnors Can-
nines Cuurcu.

_An account of the Church and Parish by the late Archdeacon
Macdonald (printed in a former volume! of this Magazine) was
referred to for information, and the neglected state of the Ernley

Chapel provoked severe strictures from some of the visitors. They
_thence proceeded to Devizes.

_ In the evening the Assembly-Room at the Hall was again well
filled. After a few brief remarks, the President (Edrl Nelson)
introduced the Rev. W. H. Jonzs, Vicar of Bradford on Avon,
who was announced in the programme to read a paper on “The
Names of Places in the neighbourhood of Devizes. His lecture,—(we
“may so call it, for it was not read)—was rendered more intelligible
by the help of a black board, upon which the Reverend gentleman
MMS AG) foi 5 otaieliaVdawAMedee qaoy goer eh wad.

B2

20 The Tenth General Meeting.

wrote those words which he brought before the company, first.
in Saxon, then through the “Transition State” to their present ;
form. Some of them were very interesting, especially when
shewn to be memorials of ancient customs. After this lecture was
concluded, the Rev. J. E. Vize read a paper on the “ Terrestrial
and Fresh Water Shells of Wiltshire.”

Eart Netson then said that as there would be no meeting on
the following evening, he would take the opportunity, on behalf of
the Society, of thanking the company and all who were connected
with the town for the great kindness they had received during their
visit to Devizes. ,

The Rucror then rose and said that as this was probably the last
time the present meeting would have the pleasure of assembling
under the presidency of Earl Nelson, he ventured to offer the
respectful thanks of the Society to his Lordship for coming
amongst them on this occasion. That all who have taken a part
in the proceedings of the meeting should have received the greatest
consideration and courtesy was only what was to be expected from
an English nobleman, especially from his Lordship. It was how-
ever an agreeable surprise to find from the admirable address which
he delivered, that he was so acquainted with the science of
Archeology—giving promise of becoming one of its most accom-
plished professors. He could assure his Lordship that the Society
had not only received gratification but much information from
him, and he ventured to say that whenever Earl Nelson
should come among them, whether in his religious capacity as the
lay advocate of our religious societies—in his military capacity
as an officer of our Wiltshire Yeomanry—or in his scientific
capacity as the President of this Society,—he would always receive
in Devizes a cordial and grateful welcome.

The thanks of the meeting were duly accorded by the general
applause of all present, and after some little time spent in the
Museum the meeting separated.

THIRD DAY. THURSDAY, Avcusr 20TH.

This day was very favourable and fortunately so, for the pro-

The Tenth General Meeting. 21

ay mme announced rather a long journey. After visiting Etchil-
mpton Church, where they were met by the Rev. Henry Methuen,
the party proceeded to All Cannings Church, where that gentle-
man’s venerable father, the Vicar, was so good as to attend and
offer explanations. A considerable time having been devoted to
the inspection of these two churches, it became necessary to shorten
the projected drive. Tan Hill and Rybury Camp were therefore
omitted, and it was agreed to follow a straighter course to WALKER’S
Hitt.

With respect to this eminence, Mr. Matcham has kindly favoured

us with the following remarks.
“ Warker’s Hitr forms a prominent feature in the hypothesis
propounded by the late Mr. Duke in his work entitled ‘The
_’ Druidical Temples of Wiltshire.’ He there assigns his reasons
and proofs, that ‘our ingenious ancestors pourtrayed on the Wilt-
shire Downs a Planetarium or stationary Orrery, located on a
-_meridianal line, extending north and south the length of sixteen
miles; and that the planetary temples thus located, seven in number,
will, if put into motion, be supposed to revolve around Silbury Hill
: as the centre of this grand astronomical scheme.’ (p.6.) Of these
‘planetary temples’ he finds that four were constructed of stone,
those of Venus, the Sun, the Moon and Saturn; and the remaining
_ three of earth—those of Mercury, Mars and Jupiter—resembling
the ‘hill altars’ of Scripture. The Temple of Mercury, the orbit
of which planet was next in juxta-position to that of the Sun, was
in the opinion of this author represented by an earthen work
situated on the brow of a hill overlooking the vale of Pewsey, and
known by the name of Walker’s Hill.’ The work is described by
Sir R. C. Hoare (Ancient Wiltshire, vol. ii. p. 12) as a very large
‘barrow whose ridge or dorsum, is more acute than any he had yet
seen. The hill is intersected by two banks each having their ditch
toward the north-west.’ Sir Richard adds in a note—-This
long barrow is protected on each side by a strong vallum having
its ditch toward the N. W., which circumstance, as well as the
. immediate vicinity of the tumulus to the British trackway, induced
‘me to suppose that this mound might have been raised by the

22 The Tenth General Meeting:

Britons as a ‘hill altar,’ and on that account was so unusually
guarded.’ But although Mr. Duke considered this mound as one
of the three temples in the Orrery which were formed of earth,
yet there is reason for supposing that it had also its edifice of stone,
for in a communication made to the Antiquarian Society by Dr.
Thurnam? he states that in the year 1860, he ‘ made an excavation
in the long barrow on Walker’s Hill, (Alton Down); at the base
of this mound, near the east end, was an upright of Sarsen, and below
the turf, at a little distance on each side, another fallen ortholith
was uncovered. Between these, on each side of the remaining
upright, was an horizontal walling of oolitic stones, neatly faced
on the outside, five or six courses of which remained undisturbed.’
A more complete excavation and examination, would probably lead
to a more definite determination of the structure, whose ‘ debris ’
are here described: and those who entertain a favourable opinion
of Mr. Duke’s very remarkable suggestion will perhaps accept the
discovery of Dr. Thurnam as confirmatory of the scheme laid
down in ‘the Druidical Temples of Wiltshire.’ It may be added
that the two tumuli, without a vallum, which are on the opposite
side of the gorge and British trackway, running immediately below
Walker’s Hill, are considered by Mr. Duke to have ‘served the
purpose of gnomons, connected with the planetary temple on the
opposite headland’—an inference which he conceives to be strength-
ened, by the modern name of Knaphill given to this site—‘ Knap
being an evident transition from Kneph or Cneph, the Egyptian
or Pheenician name for Mercury.’ ”

A rough ride over the down next brought the excursionists to
Huish Hill, where Dr. Thurnam, who had caused a tumulus to be
opened, gave them some account of the deposit therein discovered.
They then continued the route to Martinsell Hill. After luncheon,
the site of a British village was inspected, on the side of the steepest
part of the hill facing Savernake Forest. By way of Oare, Wilcot,
Woodborough, Mardens and Chirton, examining the churches as
well as time would allow, the company reached Devizes again at
half-past 8 o’clock.

. 1 Archeologia, vol. xxxyiii., p. 410.

23

Bx. |
A Hist of Articles Gxbibited

IN THE

TEMPORARY MUSEUM AT THE TOWN-HALL, DEVIZES,
August 18th, 19th, and 20th, 1863.

Those marked with an Asterisk have been presented to the Society.:

By.the Mayor anp Corporation or DEvizEs: .
A portion of the Borough Charters, including those of Henry VI., Henry
VIII., Edward VI., Elizabeth, James and Charles. The two Maces of silver
gilt, with initials of Charles If. The Grace Cup also of silver gilt, bearing
on the lid the names of the Corporation in 1620. The cup itself appears
from the Hall mark to be of earlier date,

By Arexanper Meux, Esa., Devizes :—

| The Ledger Book or Register of the Borough of Devizes; an illuminated

MS. on vellum containing copies of the Borough Charters, from the Empress
_ Mand to James I., together with its bye-laws, charitable benefactions, &e.,

collected by John Kent, Esq., Town Clerk in 1628.

By the Rr. Hoy. roe Eant or Sr. German’s Down Ampney House :—

A series of Roman Coins including specimens of Julius, Claudius Cesar,

q Vespasian, Domitian, Nero, Agrippa, Hadrian, Claudius, Antonia, Faustina

; _ the elder, and Faustina the younger, Gallienus, Florianus, Tiberius, Crispina,

> Carausius, Commodus and Antoninus Pius; fibula, spear head and other

J -Roman remains found in excavations made for draining at Sutton, in March

. 1863.

By Wittram Ewart, Ese., M.P., Broadleas, Devizes :— 3
Warming pan (from Potterne) bearing on the lid a lion passant, holding a
banner charged with a cross—the date 1649, and the inscription, ‘* GoD SAVE

KING cHaRrieEs.” Life size Portraits in oil of John Kemble, as “ dy

Mr. Siddons, General Paoli, and G. A. Lee, Esq., painted by Sir Thomas

, Lawrence. Also some pencil sketches by the same artist,and an autograph

¥ letter to Mr. Lee, dated 1808.

By the Rey. Peter Peace, Devizes :—

; Silver plate supposed to be of the Tudor period. Harlequin silver spoon.
A highly finished pencil drawing of a lady in Miniature, by Sir Thomasiaa
Lawrence, Portrait of Hannah More, Portrait by Kauffmap, Mail Coach by
E. Bird, R.A. Water colour drawing of Stonehenge, by S. Jackson. Curious

' engraving representing the head of King Charles I., considerably elongated,

i &e., &e.

_ By the Rev. Epwarp Wittoy, West Lavington :—_

An interesting collection cf Chinese articles, amongst which were eight
idols taken from the Emperor’s Summer Palace at Pekin, a box with im-
pressions from the Imperial Seals, Mandarins wand of Office, &e., &e. Also
several Elementary Books, and a copy of the Pilgrims Progress jn the Chinese

language.

24 The Museum.

By the Rey. F. H. Du Bounay, Heddington :—

Specimen of iron slag found at Heddington. Encaustic tiles from Hed-
dington Church.

By the Rey. B. C. Dowpine, Devizes :—

Copies of Cranmer’s Bible, A.D. 1539, and Barker’s edition, A.D. 1634,
both in fine preservation, the latter belonging to St. James’s Church, Devizes.

By the Rey. A, Smiru, Old Park, Devizes :—

Shell harness and lure from Norway.
By the Rev. A. C. Surry, Vatesbury :—

A series of Casts from Medals of the Twelve Cesars.
By the Rry. F. Gopparp, Hilmarton :—

Relies from the Holy Land, including a fragment of Ae he from the
rock in which the grave of Teeatns ? is hewn at Bethany ; a fragment of the
same from one of the large stones yet remaining of the temple of Jerusalem ;
tessera forming a portion of the pavement of the ancient temple of Jerusalem ;
a lamp used by the early Christians in the catacombs of Egypt; shells from
the sea of Galilee; a fragment of the rock of Mount Zion; a piece of
Jerusalem thorn from a tree standing at the foot of the Mount of Olives, -
near the garden of Gethsemane, &c. Also a portion of an iron bar of the
prison window at Herculaneum.

By the Rev. W. H. Teste, Rector of Devizes :—

Book of Common Prayer, in black letter, with the arms of Archbishop
Laud stamped on the cover. A copy of ‘“ Religio Medici,’ ” 1669, given to
William Wordsworth by Charles Lamb.

By the Rey. J. Baron, Upton Scudamore ;—

Inigo Jones’s Pearl, an heirloom in the possession of Mrs. William Baron
daughter of Rev. A. Inigo Suckling, author of ‘‘ History of Suffolk, &c.
Fibula found at Upton Scudamore.

By CHar_es Bieeck, Esa., Warminster. (Through the Rev. J. BARon.)

A brass Seal of the 14th century, found at Horningsham in 1863. It
bears a representation of St. Margaret, surrounded by the legend ‘‘sca
MARGARETA ORA P N.”

By the,Rev. E. H. M. Stapen, Alton Barnes :—

‘A rubbing from some initials, carved on two shields over the western

doorway of Stanton St. Bernard Church. These initials appear to be

but no satisfactory explanation has yet been given of their meaning.
By the Rev. H. T. Kinepon, Devizes :—

A valuable collection of English, French, Spanish, Prussian, Austrian,

Mexican, and Bremen coins, in gold and silver.
By W. P. Haywarp, Ese., Wedhampton :—

Case of antiquities, chiefly from the Downs near Wilsford, comprising
ancient British arrow heads, celts and sling stones; spear heads of iron and
bronze, bone pins, fibule, and other objects of the Roman period. Also a
large collection of Roman and other coins, in gold, silver and bronze.

The Museum. 25

By Henry Burcuer, Esq., Devizes:— ~
_ Medal struck to commemorate the taking of Porto Bello by Admiral
Vernon. Impressions from the seals of Nicholas, Prior of Daventry, and
Brother Thomas Dene, Prior of Exeter. Water colour sketch of the old
on Militia, drilling in the Cathedral yard. Ancient snuff box with
ver mounting. Copy of the ‘‘ Star” _ Lemgpeper of Wednesday, Oct. 26th,
1803, containing a list of ‘‘ military promotions” principally connected villi
the Volunteer movement of that period, many of them being of local interest.
By Mrs. Cotston, Roundway Park :—

Gold beads, precious stones of various shapes mounted in gold, and an
ornament consisting of two gold pins set with garnets and attached by chains
to asmall medallion bearing a cruciform pattern; also the remains of an
incense pail of wood with hoops and triangular ornaments of brass, found in
opening a small barrow on Roundway Down in 1840,

By G. Exear Storer, Esq., Devizes :—

A series of twelve cases containing a valuable collection of British Neurop-
tera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera.

Several ancient volumes including the works of Edmund Spenser A.D. 1611.

_ Thesaurus Biblicus seu Promptuarium Sacrum A.D. 1644. The History of

: the Royal Society of London A.D. 1667. Evelyn’s Sylya and Pomona
A.D. 1679, and Whitlock’s Memorials A.D. 1682.

} By 8. W. Stover, Esa., Devizes :—

Basket hilted sword used at the battle of Newbury. Iron key and halbert

(16th century) found at the Pont au Change; and lance of the same period

_ found at the Pont St. Michel in 1860. Also several specimens of encaustic

tiles.

By James Waren, Esq., Etchilhampton :—

An excellent portrait of the late Marquis of Lansdowne, painted by the

4 exhibitor: also engraved portraits of the same, and of the Right Hon. Henry

_ Addington, bicwands Lord Sidmouth.

_By Dr. Tuurnan, F.S.A., Devizes :—

; Three urns and Siréa cups of British Pottery from barrows at Winterbourne

Stoke, &c. A vase and cup modelled in imitation of British Pottery. A core

a and implement of flint. Two pieces of querns from Drew’s Pond Wood and

_ the railway cutting near Stert. Two specimens of stone hatchets from the

_ lake dwellings of Switzerland.

By Tuomas Coprineron, Ese., F.G.S., Pewsey :

An interesting collection ur fossils and fossil sponges from the railway cut-

; ting near Pewsey.

By Mrs. Dyxe :—

Wooden peg tankard, apparently of the 16th century, with carvings, in

_ relief, of the Saviour and twelve Apostles on the sides, and the Nativity on the

lid. A similar tankard belonging to the Lord Arundel of Wardour, was ex-

hibited at the Society’s Meeting at Salisbury in 1854, See vol. ii., p. 34,

By Miss CunninerTon :—

A collection of terrestrial and fresh water shells.

sy F. S. Lone. Esa. :-—

_ Tron spear head from Bulford Down.

26 The Museum.

By Tuomas B, Merriman, Esa., Marlborough :—

Girdle purse temp. Queen Elizabeth. Also a collection of curious articles

from Van Dieman’s Land, the South Sea Islands, &c. ;
By Caprain Betiers, Devizes :—

Sikh images, ornaments and charm ; also various costly articles of dress of

native manufacture. e ==
By Wi111aMm Burrows, Ese., Dunkirk :—

A collection of articles manufactured by the natives of Sierra Leone; old
copy of the Koran, taken from a burning house at Baddiboo, during the
expedition against the King of that place in 1862, specimens of native imple-
ments of war, and case of poisoned arrows.

By Epwarp WAYLEN, Esoa., Devizes :—
Painting of ‘‘ Joseph and Christ,” attributed to Vanderburgh.
By Mrs. Garsrorp, Worton :—
Portrait of the late Dr. Gaisford, Dean of Christ Church.
By Mr. H. K. Norris, Devizes :—
Sketch of the head of our Saviour in crayons, by the late SirThomas Lawrence.
By Mr. Maysmor, Devizes :—

Angel of Philip and Mary, twenty shilling piece of James I., engraved
medal of James I. and his son Prince Henry, gold button worn by the Duke
of Wellington, Lava ring from Balaclava, &e.

By Mr. R. S. THorntey, Devizes :

Model of the Great Bell of Moscow. Specimens of Malachite, and a
Malachite ornament. Russian dagger. Filigree chain and crosses, chain of
Russian coins, and several articles of Russian costume.

By Mr. Joun Eten, Devizes :—

Carved oak head from Stanton Church. Silver seal of the 15th century,
with a shield of arms—3 lions rampant in pale and a label of 3 points—and
legend ‘Sigillum Thome Giffard.” See Wilts Mag. ii, 391. A curious
print engraved by a journeyman painter of Devizes, representing the Devizes
Loyal Volunteers, as they appeared September 16th, 1799, on Roundway Hill,
to receive their colours. The volunteers are drawn up round three sides of a
square, an officer stands on the vacant side, and is in the act of addressing the
‘‘ rallant men and true.” The soldiers number about 500, and are attired in
ugly bearskin hats with red feathers, dark tunics with red facings, and top-

oe

boots and white breeches. Old French cavalry sabre. Indian war club. ©

Pair of knight’s spurs, gilt. Brass military safety stirrup dug up at Clatford,
near Andover. Curious knife and musical fork with silver and green
enamelled handles and equestrian figures, &c., temp. Charles II. Three table
spoons with gilt top
cabinet inlaid with ivory figures temp. James or Charles.
bronze medals, &e.

By Mr. Wi1xes, Baydon :—

Curious piece of needlework (16th century) representing the Fall.

By Mr. CunnrINGTON, Devizes .—

Trinity Ring found near Salisbury. Ancient British quern formed of Upper-
green sandstone, found at Devizes Castle. Roman quern of Sarsen stone,
found at Cirencester.
Roman Station at Baydon. Drawings by G. Cattermole, of Stonehenge and
Avebury. Sack pottle, with date 1652, Six drawers of fossils from the Upper-

Glastonbury chair,

Quern found lying on the head of a skeleton at the”

s temp. Charles I. and Il. Cup of Persian ware. Ebony ~

The Museum. we

green sand of Wiltshire, containing remains of 30 species of Vertebrata, a series
illustrative of the varieties of Ammonites auritus, 25 species of Lima and
Tnoceramus, 16 species of Pecten, 25 species of Terebratula, and 29 of Echin-
oderms, A case of Roman antiquitiesrom Baydon.
By Miss A. Cunnrneton, Devizes :—
A collection comprising all the known species of Freshwater and Terrestrial
shells of the county of Wilts.
By Mr. H. Cunnineton, Devizes :—
Two small urns and a collection of Roman pottery found, with skeletons, in
the railway cutting near Pan’s Lane, Devizes.
_ By Mr. J. J. Fox, Devizes :—
A collection of British bird’s eggs, including nearly 250 varieties; several
_ specimens of stuffed birds, &e.
_ By Dr. Biees, Devizes :—
Model of Eddy stone Lighthouse made from the rock on which it stands.
Copy of Aristophanes with autograph of the poet Wordsworth.
By Mr. D. Win, Devizes :—
Earthenware puzzle cup.
By Mr. T. B. Sarru, Derizes :—
_____ Two sketches of female heads in crayons by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
By Mr. H. Burt, Devizes :—
_ Engraved ee similes of sketches by Sir Thomas Lawrence of his father and
_ mother, the landlord and landlady of the Bear Inn, Devizes.
By Mr. J. Mussetwuire, Devizes :—
; Trinity Ring found at Votteme:
By Mrs. Grant, Devizes :—
pe, One hundred and twelve specimens of Roman coins found at Coulston.
_ Flint arrow heads and stone celt found at Wilcot. Rug of opossum skins.
_ Skin and teeth of shark. Case of stuffed birds, &c., &c.
¥ By Mr. G. Manyrnes, Jun., Wedhampton :—
--Roman coins found bn Charlton Down. * Token ‘‘ William Joyce in
Sarum 1652.” Ditto ‘‘ John Lamb, Cricklade.”
‘By Me. E. E. Guy, Devizes :—
_ Gold Rial of Henry VII., case of African reptiles, Russian dyptych.
_ Ancient watch by Avenel. Chinese fan, &c., &e.
By Mr. H. WEAVER, Devizes :—
Roman coins, &c., found at Hilmarton, Gastaare, and Highway.
By Miss Ciarx, iFrealing ines —
Roman cinerary urn found at Heddington Wick.
By Mr. Joun WILkINs, Devizes :—
Circular seal bearing a man on horseback surrounded by the motto ‘‘qus
_ TIBI LEGO LEGE,” found some years since at Potterne near the site of the
ancient residence of the Bishops of Salisbury. The owner of the seal was
_ William Pagnall, Lord of Fordington, A.D. 1301; and an impression of it is
™ attached to the Barons’ Letter to Pope Boniface VIII., a document to which
A no less than 117 seals are appended, including those as nearly all the nobility
of that period.
Littleton Pagnall (or Pannell) in Bishops Lavington, anciently belonged to
‘the family of Paguall from whom it derived its name,

a

pee rs qe ee ee ee
“

ce
<

28

Aebises.
Debi;

(Read there before the Wiltshire Archeological Society, August 19th, 1863.)
By the Rey. Canon J. E. Jackson, M.A., F.S.A-

bS<4l9S you have between now and dinner-time a great deal to
bf do; the site of a castle, two fine churches, and one or two
private collections to inspect; it is not my wish to encroach yery
long upon time that may be more pleasantly employed. There is
also the less necessity for doing so, because the epportunity of
knowing the History of this Town does not depend upon a casual
paper. Devizes has a historian of its own. His name, however
well known, must not be declared, because he has not thought
proper to declare it himself: and when a champion comes into the
field with his visor down we are bound to respect the incognito.
But it does not prevent our acknowledging the good service that
he renders, and at an Archeological meeting held in the very town
for which he has done so much, there will be no dissentient voice
when we take the opportunity of thanking, for his patriotic labours,
the Author of “The History, Military and Municipal, of the
Ancient Borough of Devizes.”
There is a good deal of obscurity about the Origin of Devizes:
and as it is the special business of Archeologists to enter into, or
to listen to, the discussion of things that are obscure, you shall
hear, first of all, what are the conjectures upon that subject. A
few of the principal events connected with the sites you are about
to examine may perhaps add a little interest to your examination
of them: and then there will be one or two points, more or less
connected with the History of the town, on which a few remarks
may be made.
As to the origin of this place; one thing is certain, that we |
have no authentic account of it before the reign of Henry I.,—say
A.D. 1110. The name of Devizes does not appear to have been -

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 29

met with in any record before that time: but, in that reign we
come, all at once, upon a castle and two churches. That the town
itself first came into existence at that time, I am far from saying.
One of our old Chroniclers, quoting another still older, says that
at this place Malmud, a very remote British King before the Roman
occupation of Britain, built a castle. It may have been so, and
that is all that can be said. Of Roman residence there are un-
doubtedly some indications; not so much upon the site of the main
town as in one of its suburbs, on that interval of ground which
lies between St. James’s Church on the Green, and Wick. The
_word “ Wick,” in Latin vicus, is one that very often, though not
always, marks a Roman dwelling, and it does so happen in the
present case that upon that side of the town have been discovered
from time to time the greater part of the antiquities that are
considered to be Roman.

In the year 1699 a blue earthen vessel 18 inches high, and 10
4 inches deep, was found at Southbroom, on ground belonging to Sir
John Eyles. It contained several hundred Roman coins of the

SE

—— a

_Empire, mostly copper, some mixed metal, others washed with
silver. But as one swallow does not make a summer, so the
discovery of one pot of money does not prove the existence of a
Roman town or village. The owner was quite as likely to hide
his treasure some way off in a field, as in his own garden. But
when the first discovery is followed by others, the case is altered.

_ Very soon afterwards a number of earthen vessels of strange shape
were found near the same spot: and in the year 1714, a collection
of curiosities turned up, still more to the purpose. Near the ruins
of an old house on the Green, one William Cadby, a gardener, dug
up 21 pocket household-deities, such as were called by the Romans,
_Penates. They had been carefully interred in a large urn, holding
6 English gallons, and the urn had been inclosed in Roman tiles,
secured with Roman cement. Some of these little images, about
3 or 4 inches long, are still preserved in the British Museum.
‘They have been engraved several times: and in Moll’s Atlas they
are represented on the margin of the map of the counties of Wilts,
Hampshire, and Dorset, the publisher kindly giving as his reason

30 Devizes.

for setting them forth there, that “in a county so destitute of
antiquities, he was unwilling to omit so great curiosities.” In
those days, no doubt, such things were more rare than now.

Some doubt has been expressed whether these little household-
gods were really Roman. They may not all of them have been
specimens of first-rate workmanship, but as they represent the
established deities of Roman worship, and one of them, more par-
ticularly, is an effigy of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus,
Roman surely they must have been. A coin of the Emperor
Severus was found with these images. Dr. Stukeley, writing a
few years after 1714, mentions this discovery, and adds that several
other coins had been found thereabouts, and that Roman antiquities
were found there every day. Skeletons with Roman pottery near
them have within these few years been found in Pan’s Lane: and
in the town itself coins have occasionally been met with, as in St.
John’s Street and in digging the foundations of Mr. Locke’s bank.
Putting all these discoveries together, it is a reasonable conclusion
that during the Roman occupation of Britain some of them were
domiciled hereabouts.

They disappear: and after many years the Saxon kingdom of
Wessex is formed, and the whole of this neighbourhood for miles
round belonged to the Kings of Wessex. At some early period
the Crown, in establishing a Bishopric in this part of Wessex, gave
to the Bishop towards the maintenance of the See for ever, two of
the three great manors of which this neighbourhood consisted ;
viz., the Manor of Cannings, and that of Potterne, The third,
that of Rowde, continued for centuries to belong to the Crown.
Spelman, on what authority I know not, says that King Alfred
had a castle here. It may have been so; but somehow or other
during the Saxon period, there is no mention of any town by any
name whatsoever on this site. But that is no reason why there
may not have been something of a village on the old Roman ground
about Southbroom: for there are many villages that must have
existed in Saxon times, though they do not happen to be mentioned
in the brief histories of the events of those days. .

But now comes a difficulty. Wiltshire was surveyed in the

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 31

great Norman Record called Domesday Book in the year 1086 by
order of William the Conqueror. Our neighbours, Calne, Chip-
penham, Marlborough, and all the rest, duly appear there, but no
Devizes. Absence at the roll-call of Domesday Book is a most
unfortunate circumstance for those who are very sensitive upon the
‘subject, and who are bent upon carrying the pedigree of their town
back to a period prior to the Conquest. This however is not
absolutely an insurmountable difficulty: for there are towns in
England which certainly were in existerce at and long before the
Conquest, yet are not mentioned by name in that Record. In
Yorkshire there is a town, larger than Devizes, known to have
been a Roman Military Station, named regularly in the Roman
Itineraries, yet it does not appear in Domesday Book; whilst a
poor little straggling hamlet only one mile from that town is men-
tioned there. The explanation in such cases is this. In Saxon
days that which is now the small hamlet happened to be the chief
‘manorial residence, or by some other ancient privilege, the head of
the Barony. The Barony included a large district; and in it the
Town. So that the hamlet enjoys the dignity of being registered,
whilst the rest of the places included within the Barony are passed
over in silence. That may have been the case here; and so far
there is a gleam of hope for the desponding. But gleams are
_ treacherous, and we shall presently come to a reason that appears
very conclusive, why it is next to impossible that the name of
Devizes could have been found in Domesday Book.

_ But (as already observed) it is found very soon after Domesday
Book. In 1100, Henry I. ascended the throne; and during his
© ate haes

reign, say about 1110, your authentic history begins. That gives
at all events a respectable antiquity of 750 years. As to the Saxon
castle of Alfred, the Roman fortress before that, and the British
camp before that, these things may have been; but it is easier to
believe in their existence than to prove it. But your descent from
Roger, Bishop of Sarum, in the reign of Henry I., admits of no
doubt or contradiction whatsoever; and as his story, though

familiar to many, may be less known to some who are present, it

“

shall be recapitulated as briefly as possible.

32 Devizes.

King Henry I. paid this county the double compliment of taking
out of it, first a wife, and then a Prime Minister. His wife
Matilda was educated at Wilton Nunnery ; and although to ask for
a wife through the grating of a Nunnery, was not quite according
to the rules of the House, still, when Kings ask, difficulties are
soon got over, and this was surmounted by the discovery that she
was an inmate of the House not by her own free choice.

A Prime Minister the King found—not very far from Wilton—
at Old Sarum. It was only in the reign of the Conqueror that the
Bishoprick had been established at Old Sarum; and Bishop Roger
was the third who filled the See. He was not an Englishman but a
Norman; and there is a story, the original authority for which is
not known, that he was transplanted into this country in a curious
way. Henry, before he came to the throne, was in Normandy
contending with his brother William Rufus for the succession.
He happened in one of his military marches to enter a church,
near Caen, to hear mass. Roger was officiating, and whether the
clank of armed men made him more nervous than usual, and anxious
to get such a congregation out again as soon as he could, or what-
ever it was, he got through his service so rapidly that the Prince
said in a joke, he would make a good regimental chaplain, and so
enlisted him. This story seems to be adopted by the French topo-
graphers, for the Abbé de la Rue in his History of Caen, names
the place where this happened, which was at Vaucelles, a suburb
of the city of Caen. He mentions Roger as appointed to that
Rectory in 1089, and connects this anecdote with his name.

The Rector of Vaucelles made the most of his opportunity. He
studied the Prince’s character, and seeing that he was aiming at a
Throne, whispered into his ear, “The more money you can get,
the better is your chance: repress expense, be economical. You
want a manager: employ me.”

On arriving in England he was first appointed to be Dean of
the College of St. Martin’s le Grand, in London. This College
stood somewhere near the present General Post Office. It consisted
of a Dean and Canons; and in those days the Dean was a great
man, often appointed to offices of State. Many records signed by —

By the Rev, Canon J. E. Jackson. 33

_ Kings of England at the College show that they often rested there.
It had peculiar rights of sanctuary ; on both sides of the street for
instance, but not in the middle, persons were free from arrest: and
| that privilege extending to other adjoining ground, the consequence
in later times was that St. Martin’s le Grand became the head-
quarters of all the rogues, felons, murderers, receivers of stolen
goods, pickpockets, and forgers in London, and caused it to be
such a nuisance that it was ultimately suppressed.

Prince Henry came to the throne on the Ist of August, 1100:
and the Dean of St. Martin’s was immediately appointed Chan-
cellor. He filled the office with extraordinary ability, obtained

_ the King’s entire confidence, and managed everything. “The
King knew not ought he had save the bread which he did eat.”
The Dean was then made Bishop of Sarum, and at last, during Henry’s
absence in Normandy, had the whole management of the country
in his hands: “It was wonderful” says a contemporary writer,
_ **to see how well he did it.” That in making his master rich he
_ should not forget himself, was to be expected ; but he was magnifi-
cent in his expenditure, especially in buildings. Among these
were a new Cathedral at Old Sarum, (not Salisbury Cathedral
-as the French topographer, just now quoted, says; for that was
_ many years later), a castle at Sherborne, a castle and probably
Abbey Church at Malmesbury, a church or churches “ad Divisas.’’
_ Some of the Historians say that all this outlay was merely display,
but the remark seems ill-natured. The Bishop had vast means,
g and he spent them in works intended to last, to do honour and to
be of use. If he found on his episcopal estates no houses or
varshee, and built them, the more praise to him. True, in building
his castle here, he did bid the masons make the walls a few feet
higher and thicker than usual; and whilst they were about it, put
in a few strong gates and portcullises: but in the state of the
country, and not knowing what might happen, it was well to be on
the safe side. He did not wish to keep his neighbours out; but
before long, possibly there might be some whom he might not
wish to let in. Why he chose this site for a castle is easily
accounted for. The whole Manors of Caunings and Potterne were
(OL. IX.—NO. XXv. D

:

34 Devizes.

part of his property, as Bishop of Sarum, and he merely built on
ground belonging to the See.

It had not been long built before these unusually strong walls
and gates were found to be useful as a State Prison. King Henry
had secured the person of his eldest brother, Robert, Duke of Nor-
mandy, and kept him in custody in various places for 26 years,
the rest of Robert’s life. Part of the time he was prisoner here,
though he was allowed to go hunting and amuse himself much as
he pleased.

But (not to dwell too long upon this part of the subject) the
fickle Goddess Fortune stands upon a wheel. The wheel revolves,
and that which one moment is at the top, suddenly finds itself at
the bottom. So it was with Bishop Roger. The beginning of
his down-fall was a common event enough, the overturning of a
boat, but in this case there happened to be in the boat, King
Henry’s only son; and when Prince William was drowned in
crossing from France, there was no longer any male heir apparent
to the Throne of England. Henry had one daughter, Matilda,
widow of the Emperor of Germany: and being anxious to secure
the succession to her, he called all his Nobility and Bishops together
and made them take an oath of allegiance to the Empress. Having
taken it they all departed to their homes, and the King immediately
sent his daughter abroad, causing her to be betrothed to the son of
the Count of Anjou. Henry died in 1135. His nephew Stephen
came forward to claim the throne, and we find the Bishop with many
others, notwithstanding their oath, joining Stephen. Great has been
the outcry against the Bishop by various writers, loading him with
abuse in the usual way, as an artful treacherous man who sacrificed
to the altar of ambition the interests of his patron’s family, and
so forth. But hear what he had to say for himself: for his
answer was taken from his mouth by one who knew him well.
Not only, for certain reasons of state, was the marriage between
the King’s daughter and that particular foreign Prince of Anjou
against the wishes of the country, but the King had promised
that he would never make a match of the kind without consulting
his nobility. He sent her off without their consent, and they one

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 85

and all declared that the oath was no longer binding. ‘“I have
often heard Bishop Roger say,” (these are the words of William the
Monk of Malmesbury, who certainly had no special reason for
loving the Bishop, for the Bishop had taken someyvhat peremptory
possession of the revenue of Malmesbury Monastery)—“I have
often heard Bishop Roger say, that he was freed from the oath
which he had taken to the Empress: for that he and the others
; had sworn conditionally: on the condition, namely, that the King
should not marry his daughter without Ais consent, and that of the
rest of the nobility: that none of them advised the match, or
indeed, knew that it was made.” Some writers do not attach much
_eredit to Bishop Roger’s apology, but think the real reason to have
been that he and other ecclesiastics joined Stephen, hoping to be
able to make with Stephen better terms than they could with the
_ lady. That may or may not have been so: but the end of the story
is that Stephen, wanting as many castles as he could get, contrived
a quarrel with the Bishop of Sarum with the design of seizing the
Gastle of Devizes. The Bishop was brought as a prisoner to the
town, shut up in a cowbouse under his own castle wall, and kept
} there, until the castle was given up. He lived a few years longer:
* long enough to see himself stripped of money, goods, palaces and
E lands: and so humbled, this “old man. broken with the oie
_ of state, gave all his honours to the world again, and slept in peace.”
; ‘History may be, as it has been called, ‘‘ Philosophy teaching by
q example ;’ but alas for poor a. She must be Se

f So Stephen became owner of Devizes Castle. It was soon the
scene of another strange adventure. A foreigner, named Robert
Fitz-Hubert, giving himself out as a partizan for the Empress,
D2

36. Devizes.

(but certainly no partizan of the church, for he vowed that he
would never stop till he had burned every church, monastery,
monk and bishop he could lay hands on), suddenly surprised
the castle. By means of ladders of leather he got over the walls
in the dead of night, routed the garrison and obtained possession.
But his career was short. Certain secret promises being made to
him, he was tempted to come out: a trap was laid: he fell into it,
was handed over to his opponents, and presently disposed of. By
the help of the silver key, Stephen’s friends opened the gates, got
rid of Fitz-Hubert’s men, and placed the fortress under the com-
mand of Hervey of Britany. The neighbourhood was favourable
to the Queen: they would bring in no supplies to Hervey: finding
therefore that he could get nothing to eat, he very wisely stole out
and ran away.

Then came no less a personage than Queen Matilda herself. She
had made her escape from Winchester to Ludgershall Castle, but
not being safe there, came on in a man’s disguise to Devizes. Her
pursuers were close after her, and her means of defence happening
to be at the moment insufficient, she quickly left it, concealed, it is
said, in a coffin carried on a horse; in which very dismal con-
veyance, (‘uneasy lay the head that wore a crown,”’) she travelled
all the way to Gloucester.

By and by, things turning in her favour, she came back to De-
vizes, held two Parliaments here, and bestowed upon the Town a
charter from which no doubt the present inhabitants derive very
great benefit: for it was to the effect that for their fidelity they
were to be free of certain tolls and customs all over England: were
to enjoy peace, for themselves, their servants, and their gocds, and
nobody whaisoever to molest them, under a penalty of £10. Her
Majesty being in so gracious a mood, the clergy thought it a happy
moment to settle a small account they had with her.

When Bishop Roger some years before had fallen from his high
estate, his property as Bishop of Sarum had been taken from him,
and had not yet been restored to the church. ‘The Castle and
the valuable manors of Potterne and Cannings,” said the Clergy,
‘belong to us; and we shall be very much obliged to your Majesty

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 37

if you will be so good as to let us have them again.” Her Majesty’s
advisers however did not appear to sce the matter in exactly the
same light: but church power was great in those days: and after
some discussion it was agreed, in the reign of her son Henry II.,
that the Crown should retain the Castle, Borough and Park, and
that Potterne and Cannings should be given back to the See of
Sarum. This was in the year 1157. In the hands of the Crown
the castle accordingly remained, under the command of successive
governors, men generally of high connexion, several of whose
names are preserved; but so far as it appears, nothing very extra-
ordinary occurred here, until the adventure of Hubert de Burgh,
which was as follows.
King Henry III. when he came to the throne was only
10 years old, and for some time the country was governed by
William Pembroke, Earl Marshal, a prudent and wise man, as
protector. Upon his death the administration passed into the
hands of two noblemen, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, and
Peter de Roche, Bishop of Winchester, who were not the best of
friends. Peter de Roche was a foreigner and filled all the offices
he could with foreigners like himself. The old English families,
including that of the late Earl Marshal, were violently opposed to
this, and it led to incessant jealousy and contest. Hubert de Burgh
had been a most faithful servant of the Crown under Richard I.,
and John. He had held Dover Castle against the King of France,
2 and in various other ways shown so much zeal that he had been
made Justiciary of England, and had been loaded with territory
and wealth. Enemies of course abounded, and at the head of them
was the Bishop of Winchester, Peter de Roche. They contrived
to poison the King’s ear against Hubert. He was seized, shut up
_ first in one place, then in another, and was finally sent to Devizes
Castle, under charge of four Earls who were to be sureties for him,
they having under them four Knights, who were personally to
watch him. After some little time, these four keepers were changed
without his consent: he was privately informed that a new Gover-
“nor was coming to the castle, appointed by Peter de Roche: so
-foreseeing no good to himself from these movements he persuaded

38 ’ Devizes.

two of his keepers to assist him in escaping. They did so, and
one night he being loaded with chains and unable to walk, was
earried on the back of one of them through the castle-yard, across
the moat, up an opposite bank, and deposited at the high altar in
St. John’s Church. The flight was discovered and he was dragged
back again to the castle. But Sanctuary had been broken,
Churchmen resented this; and being sufficiently influential, they
got Hubert replaced in the church: the king however in permitting
this, sent, at the same time, a secret order to the Sheriff of Wilts,
to surround the church day and night with guards, and keep the

prisoner safe. The Sheriff did as he was ordered; but next day a

body of Hubert’s friends burst into the church-yard, scattered the
javelin-men, and carried off their hero in triumph to the moun-
tains of Wales. The end of the story is, that in order to make
peace, he afterwards surrendered some part of his estates, and
finally died quietly in his bed.

Of the Castle itself where these various events took place we are
assured by ancient witnesses that it was ona noble scale. One
says it was the finest ever built by a Bishop; a second ealls it the
finest in Fingland: a third the finest in Europe; and a fourth the
finest in Christendom, In this climax, rest on which step you
please, and the imagination will be satisfied. It stood on a kind
of promontory joined as it were to the mainland on the side
towards the town; a favourite kind of site for old military strong-
holds, as may be seen in many instances. Being on three sides
protected by a natural slope, the principal artificial defences
would be towards the town. On that side accordingly there were
two moats, the remains of which were lately crossed in digging
the foundations for the New Corn-Exchange. In Henry VIII.’s
time Leland saw the castle. He mentions no less than seven
places for portcullises in the passage leading from the town. The
keep stood on a hill cast up by hand, a piece of work of incredible
cost. The rest was in ruins, used asa quarry by the town’s-people,
part of it “right unprofitably ” in building Master Baynton’s house
at Bromham (i.e. Old Bromham House, long since destroyed.)
Lambard, a later visitor in Elizabeth’s reign, describes the castle

ee

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 39

as then much decayed. But some parts seem to have been left
that were to a certain extent defensible: for in the Civil Wars it
was held for the King by Sir Charles Lloyd, until Cromwell’s
artillery in the Market-place threatened to put the finishing stroke ;
to prevent which, the governor, not being succoured, surrendered
on honourable terms. This was on the 24th of September, 1645,
and in the course of 3 or 4 years after it seems to have been utterly
demolished. The foundations however are supposed to be suffi-
ciently perfect to show the form of it, if they were properly cleared.
Hubert de Burgh and the other unfortunates caged from time to
time within its walls, probably passed their solitary nights in
dreaming of many strange things; but in the most fantastic of
their visions they never beheld that which is now, or soon will be,
to us a common-place reality. They never dreamt that through
the green-sand hill below the very floor of their dungeon would
one day run a tunnel; through that tunnel an iron highway;
along which iron way the peaceful burgesses of Devizes, their
wives and their children, would glide, without horses, at 30 miles
an hour, eastward to picnic in a Crystal Palace, westward to trip
across the chasm at Clifton on a bridge suspended in the air!

One relic connected with the castle still remains in the town in
the peculiar name of one of its streets, the Brittox. It is a very
singular name and there has been occasionally doubt about its
origin. But there is none. An old French word bretesque, in
medieval Latin bretechia, was the name used for a wooden tower
placed over a drawbridge at the entrance of a castle. Here, we
may presume, there was a tower of this kind, the street leading to
it might be called the Bretesk Street; and the word street has
_ been dropped. In the word Bretesk the s comes before the 4; but
_ the people have found it more convenient to put the & before the s;
- and just as they have changed ask into ax, wasp into wapse and
_hasp into hapse, so Bretesk has become Breteks, and hence,
_ Brittox.

_ It may now perhaps not be out of place if I take this oppor-
tunity of saying a few words as to the meaning of the name of
Devizes itaelf. Several interpretations of it have been given, but

40 Devizes.

one objection appears to me to lie against them all in common,
namely, that when closely examined, they are not sustained by the
facts of the case. The word is undeniably of Latin origin: its
general form being Divisz, or Ad Divisas, sometimes Divisio.

Some have derived it from an ancient personage, one Divitiacus,
king of a tribe of Belgze who came over from Gaul and subdued the
southern part of Britain some years before Christ. Well, what is
the authority for saying that he founded this town! Not the
shadow of ashade. The man’s name began with Divi; and the
town’s Latin name begins with Divi. So far there is a similarity ;
but if that is enough foundation for connecting the two together,
you might just as well say that it comes from Divitie, riches,
because it’s a fine place to get money in; and if that is true,
Divitie will be perhaps the most popular derivation of all. But as
to Divitiacus, it is merely one of Dr. Stukeley’s guesses, and as
such may be dismissed.

According to the next suggestion, (commonly found in our old to-
pographers) the town is supposed to have been called Devizes because
there was a division of territory between the Bishop of Sarum and
the Crown. ‘That there was such a partition is quite true. You
have already heard that in Stephen’s reign the whole of the Bishop’s
lands having been seized by the Crown, Cannings and Potterne
were given back by Henry II., the Crown retaining the Castle and
Old Park. But in what year did that compromise take place? In
the year 1157, long after the castle was built and after the Bishop’s
death. Now the castle bore the name of Ad Divisas when it was
first built, and therefore could not be so ealled from a partition of
territory which took place at least 30 years later. This derivation
therefore breaks down, not being supported by the fact.

A third explanation is that the word Divisio is Latin for a park,
that there are two divisiones or parks, that the town stands be-
tween them, and hence was called Divise. But before this ex-
planation is adopted, it ought to be shown that those two parks
were formed at one and the same time; i.e. at the earliest period
when the place is known to have borne the name. This however
does not seem to have been the case. Of the two Parks one has

“
4

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 41

always been called the Old, the other the New: a distinction which
of itself implies that the one existed before the other. Some in-
terval of time there appears to have been, because at first we find
only one Park spoken of, afterwards a second. During that
interval therefore the town could not have stood between two parks ;
nevertheless its name all the while and from the first was ad Divisas.

Whether the derivation explained at some length in the volume
of “ Wiltshire Collections”! printed by our Society in 1862, is or
is not the true one, it is at all events one that seems to have some
support from facts.

So far back as the year 1854 (as may be seen in a Note to the
Wilts Arch. Mag., i., 180) it had occurred to myself that the secret
of the derivation lay in some meaning of the word divisa, which
might possibly be applicable, but had never been applied to the
present case. A close investigation, first of the strict history of the
word itself, and secondly, of the parish map, led me to the con-
clusion set forth in the volume referred to.

1.—As to the Name.

Ad Divisas is Latin, dee Mate but there are two kinds of
Latin: the old Classical, and the Medieval; and sometimes words
which in old Classical Latin were used in one sense, were used in
Medieval Latin in quite another way. We do so ourselves to this
day: as for instance in the common word “omnibus.” In old
Latin it is an adjective, of the dative plural, meaning “for all.”
We have borrowed it for a different purpose: we make it a noun
substantive, the name of a vehicle. The word omnibus is common
; enough in Cesar; but though, as we school-boys used to say, Cesar
did go into Gaul summa diligentid, on the top of a Diligence, he
certainly never made use of an omnibus. It is much the same with
‘the word Divisa. In Classical Latin, it is a passive participle,
meaning divided; but in Medizval Latin it is used as a noun with an
active sense, that which divides—viz., a beundary line. And further,
‘it appeared that the ecclesiastics in their monastic charters always use
it as the established word for a minor kind of boundary—whether
hedge, ditch, stream, or anything else that serves for such purpose.
1 “ Wiltshire Collections by Aubrey and J ackson,” 4to., p. 306.

42 Devizes.

When then we find “ Ad Divisas”’ as the name of a place, grammar
tells us that it must be a noun; and therefore, must be the Mediawval
word, used in that particular sense.

2. The next point was, why was such a name as “at the boundaries”’
given to the Castle built at this spot about 1120? This was never
on the frontier of the Shire. So long as Wiltshire has been Wilt-
shire, this has been, as it is now, the very heart of the county.
There must therefore be something peculiar in the locality which
had not been observed. On procuring a tracing of the map of
Devizes, marking exactly its limits and those of the parishes adjoin-
ing, the propriety of the old name seemed self-evident. But since,

‘*The mind
Of him who hears is loth to acquiesce,
And fix its faith, unless the instance brought
Be palpable; ”
please to look at the ‘‘instance” on the map before you.

(The map produced, showed three parishes, Rowde, coloured
blue, Cannings red, and Potterne white). The three boundary or
dividing lines between these parishes, all to this very day run to-
wards, and in ancient times met at, one point (marked by a black
spot in the centre). At that point Bishop Roger enclosed a park
and built a castle to which he gave the name of Ad Divisas.

Being purely Medizeval, the name must not be looked for in
Domesday Book.

CHURCHES.

The Churches of Devizes are well worth inspection; but we will
not now go into any detailed description of them: because such
details are not very intelligible or interesting unless you are on the
spot to follow them; and I see by the programme that such remarks
will be made when you are there.

St. John’s has been generally understood to have been built by
the builder of the Castle, Bishop Roger, as a sort of Free Chapel
for the special use of the people belonging to the Castle inside or
out. When the gates were shut and could not be opened, there
wes a chapel for their use within the Castle walls. St. John’s isa
very fine old church and has some peculiarities. Of the four

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 43

arches of the Tower, two are round and two pointed, though all

built at the same time. There is also a portion of a curious arcade —
- of intersecting arches which formerly ran round all the inner walls
of the tower. On the south side against the chancel is a pretty
Chapel, of architecture much later than the original church. It
has frequently been called the Hungerford Chapel, but I feel
almost sure that it was not built by that family: and my reason
for saying so is that I have so many particulars of them and their
works that if this Chapel had been theirs, some notice of it or
some slight allusion to it, would most likely by this time have been
met with; but I have never met with any. The Chapel is so very
much like one at Bromham Church, in its ornaments and general
character, that it is more likely to have been erected by the
Beauchamp family to whom Bromham formerly belonged : but
here again, if the chapel at St. John’s is so late as the reign of
: Henry VIII. (as Mr. Britton used to say), it could hardly be the
_ work of the Beauchamps of Bromham; for the last of them died in
4 1508, just before Henry VIII. came to the Throne. The builder,
whoever he may have been, has left no device or coat of arms by
which we might find him out, and therefore, as he wished to
remain in obscurity, in that obscurity we must leave him.
_ The other church, St. Mary’s, seems to have been the Parish
; Church from the first. The older parts of its architecture are of
z the same age as St. John’s, and it was therefore probably built
; with the help of the Bishop’s money.

7 ee ee

SIMNEL.

. Banong the various articles produced in the town there is one to
‘the manufacture of which it adheres with admirable pertinacity :

‘but to which I presume it would not adhere unless the article were
“popular and the demand continual. It is an article of food; or
rather it is a dainty intended not so much for the animal sustenance
as for the solace and gratification of the consumer ; an effect which
q sincerely hope it produces. The dainty alluded to is Simnel

pre: a peubjent of course beneath the Sang of your Historian,

44 Devizes.

Other towns at which it is said to be made are Coventry,
Shrewsbury, and Bury in Lancashire. At Bury, on what is called
Mothering or Mid-lent Sunday, when young folks go to pay their
dutiful respects to their parents, they go provided with this offer-
ing, and the consumption is said to be enormous. At Shrewsbury
it is made in the form of a pie, the crust being of saffron and very
thick. At Devizes, as I understand, it has no crust, is star-shaped,
and the saffron is mixed with a mass of currants, spice and candied
lemon. The common Shropshire story about the meaning of the
name Simnel is well known. A happy couple had a domestic dis-
pute as to whether they should have for their day’s dinner a boiled
pudding or a baked pie. Words began to run high; but mean-
while the dinner lay undressed, and they were getting hungry. So
they came to a compromise by first boiling and then baking the
dish that was prepared. To this grand effort of double cookery
the name of Simnel was given, because his name was Simon and
her’s was Nell. The real history however of this famous compo-
sition is very different. The name is of very great antiquity, and
in Latin is called Siminellus ; and that from a Greek word signi-
fying sifted or fine flour of wheat, mentioned among the finest kinds
of bread, by Galen the physician who was born in A.D.131. Other
languages have words very like it for fine flour: the German
semmel, the Italian semolino. Originally therefore it was most
likely not the heavy piece of pastry that it now is, bnt a lighter
cake, considered as a treat by people who lived on coarser fare.
The word siminellus is frequently met with in medizval deeds. In
the year 1044, when a King of Scotland was visiting at the English
Court, an order was issued for twelve siminels for him and his suite
every day. The Monks of Battel Abbey in Sussex had by their
rules bread of the most nutritious and digestible kind {* qui vulgd
simenel vocatur”’) commonly called simenel. After this learned ex-
planation, Archzologists may perhaps be tempted before they —
leave Devizes to try this archzological confection; but they had —
better not eat too much of it, for an old gentleman of the year
1595, speaking no doubt from melancholy experience, gives this
warning upon the subject, “ Sodden bread which bee called Simnels,
‘bee Verie unwholesome !”

.

45

On the Ornithology of Cilts.

| No. 11.—INSESSORES (Perchers). Continued from vii. 102.

Scansores (climbers).

HIS is a small tribe, compared to the two previously described,
‘ containing but three families, the Woodpeckers, Creepers,
and Cuckoos; but it yields to none in point of interest, all its
members partaking of habits peculiar to the tribe, and being
sufficiently scarce in point of numbers, to attract attention whenever
_ they appear: they are essentially inhabitants of the trees, procuring
all their food from the insects which they find in the branches and
_ trunks, or from the berries and fruits thereon. Some of the families
in this tribe seldom touch the ground, and they are rarely to be
found elsewhere than in wooded districts: they are all more or

PICIDA (The Woodpeckers.)

Le ‘This family may well stand at the head of the climbers, for
potting can exceed the admirable structure of their bodies, and

of the tree, into which it is about to dig with its powerful beak:
the toes long, two being directed backwards and two forwards (an
arrangement peculiar to the climbers, but which adds immensely

wh ich serves the bird as a fulcrum or rest on which to support
itself, while bending back the head preparatory to a sharp ham-
mering with the beak ; the beak straight, long, tapering, wedge-shaped

46 On the Ornithology of Wilts [Picide].

and immensely strong, in short an instrument perfectly formed
for hammering into the wood of a decayed tree: while the
tongue is very long and slender, armed with a horny barbed tip
and sharp bristles thereon, and extends to that degree that it is
capable of being thrust out to a great length, and withdrawn again
through the mandibles when the sharp point has perforated and so
secured the insect prey dislodged from the trunk or laid bare
beneath the bark of the tree by the action of the beak: it is also
furnished with a glutinous substance exuding from its surface, to
which the smaller insects adhere, and so have no need to be trans-
fixed. Add to these characteristics that the head is large and the
body compact and small, and we have before us a structure perfectly
fitted for the habits of the Woodpecker race. Members of this
family are generally of solitary disposition, seldom associating in
flocks; and they are perfectly harmless, never guilty of even the
slightest damage to sound or healthy trees, (which is a charge
frequently, though quite erroneously, brought against them) bat.
always selecting those which are hollow and worthless, and have
betrayed to their keen sense unmistakeable signs of decay.

“Green Woodpecker” (Picus viridis). This is the most common
species among the Woodpeckers, and a handsome bird withal: its
general plumage is yellowish green above, and greenish yellow
beneath, with a crimson head, the crimson prolonged to the back
of the neck: it is more often seen on the ground than its congeners,
probably from its extreme partiality to ants-hills and their contents :
its flight is heavy and undulating. Gilbert White says “‘volatu
undoso, opening and closing its wings at every stroke, and so always
rising or falling in curves;” but it never needs to travel far, for
having ascended a tree from the bottom, in an upright or
spiral direction, (for it is incapable of descending unless back-
wards) and having concluded its examination there, and cleared
off all the insects in its way, it merely flies off to the next
tree, on the trunk of which it will fix itself near the ground,
and begin its spiral ascent as before. It is provincially called the
Yafile or Yappingall, from its loud hearty laugh-like note, and
when it is more than commonly vociferous, stormy weather may

}

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 47

_ be confidently expected: hence another name frequently given it
of Rain-bird, as Bewick tells us the Romans called it P/uvia avis.
Lloyd in his Scandinavian adventures says of it, “In Norway this

_ bird is considered better than a barometer: it is supposed not only

_ to predict the coming weather, but that three days beforehand: if

its notes are loud and monotonous, fine weather may be expected,

but if low, on the contrary rain and storm are at hand; and should
it approach the house and cry, something like a regular tempest is
to be looked for.’ Thus we see that both English and Norsemen
consider this bird as highly weather wise, though they totally
differ in the deductions they draw from the loudness or softness of
its scream: possibly we none of us yet quite understand what sen-
sations are produced on many members of the animal kingdom by

_ changes in the atmosphere, nor how they indicate such feelings,

_ though that many species are extremely susceptible of such im-

pressions, and that too considerably before man can discern any

_ prospect of change in the weather, admits of no doubt or dispute.

_ “Great Spotted Woodpecker” (Picus major). All the Wood-

_ peckers are so extremely alike in habits, that the same general

description applies to every species: this is not so common as the

last, but is seen occasionally in all wooded districts. I have notices
before me of its occurrence in Draycot Park, at Urchfont, and at

- Roundway Park, and it has come to the notice of most observers.

‘In colour it is black and white, with a crimson head, and is only

to be distinguished from its congener next to be described, by its

- superior size: it measures from the point of the beak to the tip of

the tail, over nine inches.

_ “Lesser Spotted Woodpecker” (Picus minor). Not so common

but exactly resembling the last, except in point of size, being not

F quite six inches in length, this species occasionally visits us: it is

of a very retiring disposition, and prefers the upper branches of

trees to the trank and more exposed limbs, and creeps out of sight

From the observations of various authors one would say that
Wiltshire was the favourite locality of this bird. Selby says “it
is well known in the counties of Gloucester and Wilts.” Montagu

48 On the Ornithology of Wiits [Picide].

mentions how he observed it in Wiltshire, and found its nest and
took its eggs there. Yarrell speaks of Wiltshire as one of its
habitations, in addition to which I have notices of its having been
killed within the last few years at Potterne, Roundway, Devizes,
Clarendon Park and Draycot Woods; and Mr. Elgar Sloper says,
‘“‘T have obtained three specimens of this beautiful little bird: one
caught near Devizes in June 1840 lived for some time in confine-
ment, fed on insects and bread and milk.”

Bewick used to assert that a third Spotted Woodpecker (Picus
medius) which is not uncommon on the Continent, occasionally
appeared in England: more modern naturalists however deny this,
and affirm that the young of the Great Spotted Woodpecker was
mistaken for that bird. The late Mr. Marsh thought that Bewick
was right, and that we have three distinct, species: he says, “I
have three very different from each other, they are sometimes
found in Draycote Woods, where one of my specimens was shot:
the largest was killed there; the next in size was killed in Claren-
don Park, the smallest in Amesbury Park.”

“Gold-winged Woodpecker” (Picus auratus). There is but one
instance recorded of the appearance of this beautiful bird in
England, and that was in the autumn of 1836 at Amesbury Park
in this county: it was brought to M. H. Marsh, Esq., the present
Member for Salisbury, in the flesh, immediately after it was shot:
it was preserved by Mr. Edwards, of Amesbury, and came into the
collection of the late Rev. G. Marsh, of Sutton Benger. It is a
native of South America, and in general appearance and size bears
some resemblance to the common Green Woodpecker, but differs
from it in having bright yellow bars on the wings, and black spots
on the breast, moreover the throat and chest are cinnamon colour,
and a broad cresentic patch of black crosses the chest.

« Wryneck” (Yunx torquilla). From the variety of provincial
names with which this prettily marked bird is designated, one
would imagine it to be extremely common: but this is not the case,
though it visits us in the spring every year, and is sparingly dis-
tributed over all wooded districts. The explanation of its many

names will be a tolerably complete account of its habits. That by |

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 49

which it is more usually known “ Wryneck,” comes from its habit
of turning the head rapidly from side to side while feeding, the
body remaining motionless all the while, and this is especially seen
when the bird is engaged at an ant heap, extracting those insects
and their larve, which form its favorite food: hence another of its
_ names, “ Emmet-hunter.” The manner in which it seizes its prey

is by darting out its very long extensile tongue, which is even
_ longer in proportion than that of the Woodpeckers, and transfixing
or securing it by means of a glutinous secretion with which it is
furnished, and this it does with wonderful rapidity, and never
failing accuracy: from this habit it is often called “ Long-tongue.”
Again, it is known as the “Snake-bird,” from the hissing noise
made by the parent and young birds, when the hole in which it has
made its nest is disturbed: on such occasions they will puff out
their feathers, snap with their bills, hiss like snakes, and assume
the most bold and defiant aspect. It is also known as the “Cuckoo’s
mate,” and “Cuckoo’s fool’’ because it arrives a few days before
the Cuckoo; and the late Mr, Marsh told me that it is sometimes
4 known in Wiltshire as the “Valiant Sparrow.” It is of shy
_ retiring habits, in shape very like.a Woodpecker, with the same
arrangement of feet, two toes before and two behind, but without
_ the stiff bristly tail. Its plumage is beautifully pencilled, all the
4 - feathers most delicately mottled and marbled with bars and spots
y of dark and light-brown, grey and buff.

CERTHIADA (The Creepers).

a This family is very nearly allied to the last, and the members

50 On the Ornithology of Wilts [Certhiade}.

peculiarly soft and free from bristles: like the last they live entirely
among the trees, feeding on the seeds, fruits, and insects which
they find there.

“Common Creeper” (Certhia familiaris). This is the most
elegant and delicate little bird we have, and it is very common,
living with us all the year round, but coming to our notice most
frequently in the winter, when the trees are bare of foliage, and
most of the smaller birds have left us: then it may be seen
creeping like a mouse up and down the bole of a tree, or searching
for its insect food among the rough logs in a wood yard. Next to
the Golden-crested Wren it is the smallest British bird, and the
most graveful in form, with a long slender curved beak, a very
diminutive elegant body, plumage brown above and white below,
and a stiff sharp-pointed tail bending downwards, and supporting
it in its climbings, after the manner of that of the Woodpecker.
Its note is a gentle monotonous chirp, which it continues to repeat
during its incessant rambles on the stems and branches of the
trees; for it is one of the most restless of birds, never still for an
instant, and a most expert and indefatigable climber, its long claws
wellcurved and strong, enabling it to cling to the rough bark, at what-
ever angle the branch may be, whether vertical, horizontal, or
oblique.

“Wren” (Troglodytes vulgaris). This is a general favorite: its
diminutive size, but pert aspect, its boldness and familiarity in
winter (for it never leaves us), its full rich song and engaging
manners, all bespeaking our protection: in colour it is reddish
brown, well mottled and speckled with various shades, but its most
striking peculiarity is the erect position of its tail, which gives it
a very jaunty appearance. Some authors have placed it among
the warblers, but its long tapering arched beak, long curved claws,
short rounded wings ard soft plumage seem to point it out as a
true creeper: moreover, though not essentially a climber, it clings
with apparent ease to perpendicular surfaces sideways, and is often
seen on the trunks as well as branches of trees: it also frequents
walls and rocks, as well as banks and ditches, and its food consists
of inseets, seeds, and soft fruits. Many people are net aware of the

By the Rev. A. O. Smith. 51

volume and richness of its song, more particularly in the early
spring, and this is the more remarkable when the diminutive size
of the bird is taken into account: Shakspeare was evidently igno-

rant of this, for he says
« The nightingale, if she should sing by day
When every goose is cackling, would, be thought
No better a musician than the wren.’
(Merchant of Venice, Act v.)

One naturally is inclined to wonder how so small and apparently
delicate birds as this and the preceding, brave the severity of our
winters in this country, and yet notwithstanding the insect nature
of their food and the slender form of their beaks, they somehow
manage to subsist, and the Wren at least to warble in apparent
gladness of heart during the roughest winds and the bleakest
weather. This is also essentially a restless bird, always on the
move and never stationary for a minute: it derives its scientific
name Troglodytes from the cave-like appearance of the large domed

nest which it inhabits.

“ Hoopoe” (Upupa Epops). Once seen this bird can never be
mistaken by the most unobservant, its long and beautiful crest
‘being peculiar and distinctive: this is composed of soft silky
- feathers of a pale buff colour, each ending in a black and white
spot or eye; and this crest it can erect and depress at pleasure:
when the bird is in a quiescent state and undisturbed, the crest
flows gracefully back in a recumbent position, but upon the least
alarm or when excited in any way, the feathers are immediately
erected: the general colour of the plumage is pale buff, amply re-
lieved by the black and white bars of the wings and tail: the beak
; s very slender and slightly bent. The Hoopoe is said to prefer
‘moist and low situations, especially where woods abound: it may
generally be seen on the ground, searching for worms and grubs,
though it so far shows its climbing habits as to fly to trees when
isturbed, and to be often observed hanging from the branches of
s, in search of the insects which dwell on the under side of the
iage. The only occasion on which I have ever had the good
fortune to see it alive in a wild state was from a railway carriage
in ‘Hanover: the bird was marching about with great dignity on

: E2

—

;
4

52 On the Ornithology of Wilts [Certhiade].

the embankment, strutting with conscious pride of its good looks;

and before it flew away, erected its crest, and showed itself off to

great advantage. It derives its scientific name ‘‘ Upupa,” as well

as the English ‘‘ Hoopoe,” German ‘ Kin Houp,” and French “ La
Huppe,” from its note, resembling “hoop, hoop,” cooed out very
softly after the manner of the dove. It is a native of North
Africa, and is a shy retiring solitary bird.

It is not so rare in England as some imagine, for though never
permanently resident here, scarcely a year passes when some do
not make their appearance. I have many records of its occurrence
in Wiltshire; Bishop Stanley recounts how one was caught on
Salisbury Plain in a weak and exhausted state, which must
evidently have come from a distance, for its beak was filled with
red clay of a quality not found in that neighbourhood. Yarrell
says it has been obtained in Wiltshire. Mr. Withers informs me
it was killed by Mr. Warriner’s keeper many years since near
Redholn turnpike gate. Mr. Marsh recorded its capture at Win-
terslow in 1829; and more recently the Rev. George Powell, (with
the ready kindness with which he continually gratifies my Orni-
thological taste) communicated to me the capture of a very fine
male specimen, by some labourers in the farm yard of Mr. Marsh
of Heytesbury: the bird was weather-beaten and exhausted, and
appeared to have come in for its share of a great storm which on
the day preceding its capture had devastated the fields at Lavington.
When secured, it was carefully placed in a large cage, and though
at first very shy, it gradually became more reconciled to confine-
ment; but at the end of seven days, without any ostensible
reason it died suddenly. These are undoubtedly authentic
instances of the occurrence of the Hoopoe in our county,
but the Rev. F. Goddard, Vicar of Hillmarton, who has
often seen this bird in Egypt, and is well acquainted with its
habits, has been so fortunate as to meet with it alive in Wiltshire
on several distinct occasions: his description is so graphic and
interesting from the rare occurrence of the bird, that I take leave
to insert it in his own words:-—‘‘ Some time in the summer, I
believe in the month of August, riding from Alderton to Norton

i i

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 53

near Malmesbury, to do duty on a Sunday, about one mile and a
quarter from Alderton, at the point where Alderton, Sherston and
Hullavington parishes meet, I passed an old crumbling dungheap
on the Foss way, and to my astonishment on that dungheap (by
the bye very like his native ones) sat a splendid male Hoopoe, as
calm and composed as possible, exactly as I have seen them in
Egypt, on every dungheap. I approached close to him to admire
him, and satisfy myself that this stranger at Alderton (but to me
familiar friend) was a real Hoopoe: he then gave one or two of
his peculiar jerks, and rising with a short undulating flight like a
jay rested on a hay-rick twenty yards distant: as I approached
the rick, he jerked himself impatiently once or twice as before, and
took flight for his dungheap, and again from that to the rick, but
no further; (like the Vicar of Wakefield, who confined his migra-
tions from the ‘Blue bed to the Brown’) precisely as the bird
appears everywhere from November to March in lower Egypt on
_ the banks of the Nile, only that having in that ‘basest of king-
doms’ an infinite choice of dunghills he merely removes himself
_ and his wife (who is always with him) from the brown to the black,
and vice versa. In the case of the bird in question, on my return
3 from church there he was as before: during the week I forgot his
_ existence, and on the following Sunday, as I passed that way for
the same purpose, up jumped my friend from the back of the
_ dunghill, and settled on his hay-rick, and so I found him very
becomingly at rest on my return from service. The next day I
sought him, and found him at work upon his mixen, as busy as
possible and quite at home: he seemed to imagine that he had
"gained a parochial settlement under my ministration, not being
‘aware that the Foss, which divided the dunghill and the rick, is
‘invariably the division of parishes: thus he lost the advantage of
being either in my care or that of the Vicar of Hullavington, but
I considered him entitled to my protection. I could not hear
however of his having been seen after that day, though I enquired
much after him.”
_ Again in 1854, Mr. F. Goddard reported to me the appearance
of another strange bird, supposed to be a Hoopoe, near the same

54 On the Ornithology of Wilts [| Certhiade].

place, in the following words: “I heard from a person residing
here” (at Alderton) “that a bird answering the description of a
Hoopoe with a high crest (a stranger, unknown to any one about
the place that saw it) was shot on the top of a chimney at Hibden
Farm in Luckington Parish, distant half-a-mile from Alderton,
and about three miles from the spot where I saw the Hoopoe in
1851. It was during the severe frost and snow of January 1854
that this bird supposed to be a Hoopoe was killed; but as he fell
into an old chimney, from which he has never been recovered, I
cannot be sure of his identity.” So far from the pen of Mr.
F. Goddard: but even yet more interesting is the last account of
these birds breeding in Wiltshire, which I have received through
the same gentleman from his brother Mr. Septimus Goddard, who
writes as follows in answer to my enquiries on the point. “I
perfectly well recollect the circumstance of the young Hoopoes
being found in a bush near the brook on the farm now occupied
by Mr. Ackers (of Morden) in Rodbourn Cheney Parish: they
were four in number, nearly full grown; colour that of woodcocks,
with very large top-knots, I am not quite certain what became of
them, but I rather think that they were taken back to the brook
again. The old birds laid again and sat nearly in the same place
the following season, but the eggs, four in number, were destroyed
by boys. I have frequently seen Hoopoes in Sussex near East-
bourne, where several have been shot on the estate of the Duke of
Devonshire.” The last paragraph shows that Mr. S. Goddard is
not unacquainted with the bird, and cannot therefore have mistaken
any other for it. This is perhaps as full an account of English
Hoopoes as has fallen to the lot of any Ornithologist of this country
to meet with, and it is the more satisfactory that the narrator,
Mr» F. Goddard, is not only an acute and accurate observer of
birds generally, but has become personally acquainted, and that
very intimately with the bird in question during his travels in
Egypt.

“Nuthatch” (Sitta Europea). This active little bird is to be
found in our own woods all the year round: in colour it is dark
grey above, and orange buff beneath: the beak is strong, straight,

~~’
4

.

{

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 55

conical, and pointed, and with this instrument it will hammer with
repeated and most sonorous blows the nut which it has previously
fixed in some chink of bark or crevice in the tree, and which it
rarely finds impervious to its sharp beak, which it brings down
upon it with all the weight of its body; seldom baffled even by
the toughest shell, which it will turn round till it has tried every
point of attack, and generally succeeds at last in extricating the
kernel. Should the nut accidentally fall from the chink in which
it is fixed, or fly asunder, and the kernel drop out, the Nuthatch
will dart upon it with the rapidity of lightning, catch it in its
claws before it reaches the ground, and return with it to its former
position. It runs both up and down the stems of trees, and will
descend head foremost, (in which respect it differs from all other
birds,) and varies its nut diet with insects and their larve, which
; it extracts from the bark and leaves. The name Nuthatch seems
to be a corruption of ‘ Nuthack,” which the habits of the bird
sufficiently explain. It is to be found in this county generally
wherever woods abound, but seems to prefer large oaks and beeches.

CUCULIDA. (The Cuckoos.)

_ This family is but scantily represented in this country for we
have but one species, though that one so well known, and its
periodical appearance so generally hailed with delight as a har-
binger of summer, that it has attracted as much attention as many
families, comprising several genera and many species. They all
feed on insects and soft fruit, and are therefore unable to reside
_ during winter in cold countries: their flight is singularly smooth
_ and gliding and very rapid, and they move quickly from bough to
_ bough, rather leaping from branch to branch, than climbing like
_ those families of this tribe previously described: on the ground
_ they are awkward and constrained, their feet being very short and
weak: the tails of birds of this family are peculiarly ample, very
broad as well as long.

“Common Cuckoo” (Cuculus canorus). There is no need to
assert that this bird occurs throughout the county, for who does
not hear its well-known cry every April in his own parish and

56 On the Ornithology of Wilts [ Cuculide}.

garden: and yet every body does not know the appearance of the
bird, so much resembling the Kestrel or Sparrow-hawk at first
sight; the dark lead-coloured plumage above, the light under parts
barred with brown, and the full dark yellow eye, all contributing
to the general resemblance; but when we come to look nearer, we
are soon undeceived, for the beak is small, soft, slender, and nearly
straight, like those of other insectivorous birds, and the feet are
small and weak, with two toes before and two behind, after the
manner of other climbing birds, and not at all like the strong
hooked beak and powerful talons of the birds of prey: here the
Cuckoos are unusually abundant, and remarkably tame, and one or
more may frequently be seen every spring sitting on the iron
railings in my garden, while their oft repeated cry, as they answer
one another in different keys from opposite plantations, is almost
continually to be heard, more especially towards evening, when
(like many other birds) they become more clamorous than during
the day. When they have been here some time, their call becomes
changed to a wild stammering repetition of the first syllable,
though an individual which returns here every spring invariably
utters this peculiar call from its first arrival, and with a pertinacity
and in so loud a key as to attract the notice of every stranger.!
The singular habit of the Cuckoo of never building its own nest,
but depositing its eggs singly in those of other birds, insectivorous
species being always selected for the foster parents, is well known:
why the Cuckoos adopt this peculiar and almost unnatural habit ;
how they deposit their eggs in the nests of little birds; when the

1 There is a favorite old country rhyme which marks with sufficient accuracy
the arrival, song, change of note, and departure of the bird.
“Tn April
Come he will:
In May,
He sings all day.
In June
He alters his tune,
In July
He prepares to fly ;
In August
Go he must.

By the Rev. A. ©. Smith. 57

situation and size of the nests preclude, as they often do, the
possibility of the egg being laid there, after the usual manner,
by a bird sc disproportionate in size to the nest it selects as
tke cradle for its young; how the young Cuckoo becomes the
sole tenant of the nest, its foster brethren being summarily ex-
pelled to make way for its rapidly increasing size, and to enable
its foster parents to supply its voracious appetite; how the young
Cuckoo, when come to maturity, follows instinctively in the track
of its parent, not being arrived at the requisite point of strength
when its parents leave their summer haunts on their annual migra-
tion southwards: these, and other similar questions connected with
its strange history, I purpose to examine at some future day in a
separate paper, for the errors abroad on these points, are almost

_as wild as they are innumerable, and I am anxious to disperse

some of them, and examine into others, upon which naturalists are
not yet agreed, but which offer subjects of extreme interest, and

_ well worthy the attention of all out-door observers, but which I

reserve for the present, and will not now trespass further on the

pages of the magazine.

ALFRED CHARLES SMITH.

_ Yatesbury Rectory, Caine,

August 22nd, 1864.

58

Ghe Flora of Wiltshire:

COMPRISING THE

Klofvering Plants and Ferns indigenons to the County;
By Tuomas Bruces Frower, M.R.C.8., F.L.S., &e., &e.
No. VIII.
ORDER. ROSACEA. (JUSS.) (Continued.)
Rusvus, (Linn.) Bramsce.
Linn. Cl. xii. Ord. iii.

Name. From the Celtic reub, to tear or dacerate, on account of
the prickly stems of the true brambles.

1. R. Zdeus (Linn.) common Raspberry. IJdeus signifies from
Monnt Ida, so famous in ancient poetry. Engl, Bot. t. 2442.

‘cihe and Nees’s Rubi Germanici t. 47.

Locality. Copses, borders of woods, and shady banks of streams.
Probably an escape from cultivation. Shrub Fl. June, July.
Area, 1. * 2. 3. 4. 5.

South Division.

1. South-east District, “‘ Amesbury,” Dr. Southby.

3. South-west District, Woods at Longleat and Corsley, “ War-
minster,” Mr. Wheeler. ‘ Berwick St. John,” Miss L. G. Griffith.

North Division. .

4. North-west District, Woods at Box, “Spye Park. Dr.
Alexander Prior.

5. North-east District, “Woods about Marlborough, Rev. T. A.
Preston.

Sparingly distributed throughout Wilts. Petals narrow, erect.
Fruié scarlet in a wild state, of numerous juicy grains, beset with
permanent styles, and highly fragrant, with a very deliciously
perfumed sweet and acid flavour, more exquisite in the wild state
in general, than when cultivated. This plant obtains its common
name from the rough and bristly appearance of the fruit.

2. R. rhamnifolius (W.et N.) Buckthorn-leaved Bramble. Lng.
Bot. t. 2604. R. G.t. 6. RB. cordifolius, R. G. t. 5.

Locality. Wedges, thickets, and woods. Shrub. Fl. July,
August. Area, 1.2. 3.4.5. Frequent in the Districts.
Stem naked, or with scattered hairs, as well as minute g/ands,
and occasionally a few se/@ many feet long, varying in thickress,

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 59

and in the prominence of its angles, but less remarkably channelled
than in R. discolor. Prickles not so strong, and the pubescence less
dense and more generally deciduous. Leaflets quinate, sometimes
grey or white beneath. Panicle spreading. Fruit black, somewhat
acid, consisting of fewer and larger drupes. Petals more or less
. tinged with pink. Authentic specimens prove this to be R.
cordifolius of Weihe and Nees, Rubi Germanici.
: 3. R. discolor, (W. & N.) diverse-coloured Bramble, common
_ Blackberry. Rubi Germ. 46, t. 20. R. fruticosus (Linn.) Engl.
—— Bot. t. 715.

Locality. Extremely common in thickets and hedges, in the
more open districts. Sh. FV. July, August. Area, 1. 2.8. 4. 5.
Generally distributed. Stem many feet long, in general deeply
suleate. Prickles large, strong, numerous, but often hooked except
‘on the petioles, and occasionally on the panicle. Leaflets varying
in width, often small, sometimes almost round, with an abrupt
point, but mostly obovate or somewhat cuneiform, and with the
edges and point remarkably curved downwards. Panicle with
patent branches, bearing several flowers. Flowers upright and
handsome. Fruit black, nearly globular. Drupes rather small,
_ closely packed, their summits depressed, their flavour acid. This
species attains a greater size than our other brambles, except in its
nearaffinities. R. rhamnifolius (W.and N.) and R. leucostachys (Sm.)
. 4. R. carpinifolius (W. & N.) Hornbeam-leaved Bramble.
W.& N. t. xiii. Engi. Bot. Suppl. 2664.

_ Locality. Hedges and open places in hilly districts. Sh. Fl. July,
L- August. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Sparingly distributed ihroughout
_ Wilts. Stem suberect, ultimately arching, clothed with fasicles of
straight spreading hairs. Prickles with broad bases, mostly
confined to the angles of the stem. Leaflets slightly hairy above,

60 The Flora of Wilts.

more so and paler beneath. Panicle branched. Petals mostly
light pink. Fruit few grained, glossy black.

5. R. leucos’tachys (Smith) White-spiked Bramble, stachys is
Greek for an ear of corn or spike of flowers, and /ewkos for white,
the name, (not well chosen) relates to the hoariness of the panicle.
Eng. Bot. Suppl. 2631. R. pubescens, Rub. Germ. 42, t. 16.

Locality. Woods, hedges and thickets. Sh. Fl. July, August.
Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Distributed throughout all the Districts. Stem
long, not furrowed, often nearly round, pubescence, loose, weak.
Prickles straight, hairy, and elongated at the base. Leaflets par-
ticularly those of the flowering shoot, often wavy at the margins.
Panicle often remarkably long, narrow, and raceme-like, yet rarely
simple. Petals and stamens rose-coloured or white. Fvuit black,
the drupes less depressed and rather looser than in R. fruticosus
(Linn.) This is most like R. rhamnifolius (W. & N.) but differs
in its rounder leaves, with copious elastic hairs, and its hoary
panicle. It can hardly be confounded with R. discolor.

6. R. Koehleri (W. & N.) Koehler’s Bramble. Engl. Bot.
Suppl. t. 2605. W.& WN. ¢. 25.

Locality. Woods, hedges, and thickets. Sh. Fl. July, August.
Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts.

Stem very variable in size and length, and in the prominence of
its angles. Prickles scattered on every part of the stem, as well as
on the stalks, and midribs of the leaves and on the panicle. Leaves
thin and flexible varying in size and shape, and in the length of
the point, which is often long, and taper. Serratures coarse un-
equal. Panicle often very large. Calyx more or less reflexed
whilst in flower, often more spreading afterwards. Petals white
or pale pink rather small. Fruit black, shining acid. Drupes
rather small, numerous, not depressed.

7. R. corylifolius (Smith) Hazel-leaved Bramble. From corylus
the hazel, but the plant now so called by British botanists has
leaves less like those of the hazel than most of the species. Engl.
Bot. t. 827.

Locality. Hedges and thickets. Sh. Fl. June, July. Area, 1.
2.8.4.5. Throughout the Districts.

ee ee ——

ee ee See

EE ee ee ee

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. . 61

Stem stouter and longer than in “R. cesius” (Linn.) frequently
somewhat angular generally hairy. Prickles usually straight and
deflexed. Leaflets broadly ovate, with a cordate base, soft-hairy,
paler, or sometimes hoary at the back, intermediate pair on short
stalks, on which the external pair is usually quite sessile. Panicle
very various, sometimes broad, and corymbose, like that of R.
cesius, at others longer, and contracted. ruitlarge,acid. Drupes
more numerous than in R. cesius (Linn.), but less so than in most
other species. The nearest affinity of this Bramble is with R. cesius.

8. R. cesius (Linn.) Dewberry. Cesius (Lat.) grey, refers to
the bloom on the stems and fruit. Zngl. Bot. t. 826. Rub. Germ.
t. 102. ¢. 46.

Locality. Thickets, hedge-banks, and borders of fields. Sh. FV.
July, August. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Common tn all the Districts.

Stem weak, with many slender branches, rooting at the ex-

_tremities. Prickles usually straight, scarcely deflexed, varying
much in size. Leaflets ovate, often lobed, pubescent above, softer
_ beneath, and of a paler colour, sometimes covered with long shining
hairs, the innermost sessile or with only broadly distinguishable
‘stalks. Panicle corymbose, the divisions frequently cymose.
Drupes of the fruit few, large juicy black, with a fine glaucous
bloom, and agreeably acid flavour. R. cesius (Linn.) is a very
_ variable plant, often rather stout, and woody, at other times almost
herbaceous, but it is generally distinguished by its round and
_ glaucous stems.

_ These are the only species I have ventured to introduce of this
truly variable and intricate genus, owing to the difficulty that has
_ been experienced in tracing with any thing like accuracy, their
‘distribution throughout the county. I would here however remark
that we appear to have many interesting and apparently distinet
q forms from those above described, and if any of my correspondents
would kindly undertake to collect, and dry specimens of every
Bramble which comes under their notice, in which any conspicuous
7 differences are observable, I would gladly append to each description
‘their opinions and remarks in a future paper which it is my inten-

tion of publishing on the Rubi of Wilts.

62 : The Flora of Wiltshire.

Geum, (Linn.) AvENs.
Linn. Cl. xii. Ord. iii.

Name. An old Latin word to denote the plant Avens, probably
from geuo, to make to taste, in allusion to the aromatic flavour of
the root.

1. G. urbanum (Linn.) City or common Avens, Herb Bennet.
Engl. Bot. t. 1400. St. 5.7.

Locality. Under hedges, on roadsides, banks, and margin of
woods, common, P. LV. June, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Fre-
quent throughout Wilts.

Flowers yellow with small spreading petals. Carpe/s in a close
sessile head, covered with silky hairs, the awn about three lines
long, curved downwards with a minute hook at the tip.

2. G. rivale (Linn.) River-water Avens. Lngl. Bot. t. 106.
St. 3.

Lecality. Damp woods, marshes, and wet ditches. P. FV. June,
July. Area, 1. * 3. 4. 5.

. South Division.
1, South-east District, “Amesbury,” Dr. Southby. ‘ Landford,’’
Rev. E. Simms, “Frequent about Salisbury,” Mr. James Hussey.
38, South-west District, ‘‘ Meadows at Quidhampton,” Mr. W. H.
Hatcher. ‘‘ Waterside at Bishopstrow,” Miss Meredith. ‘“ Norridge
wood near Corsley,” Miss Griffith. ‘Damp woods in the neigh-
bourhood of Warminster,” If. Wheeler.

North Division.

4. North-west District, abundantly in damp woods, between
Box and Slanghterford, Northwood near North Wraxhall. ‘Rud-
low,” Wr. C. E. Broome. ‘ Beckhill wood near Biddeston,” Diss
Ruck. ‘ Frequent about Chippenham,” Dr. Alexander Prior.

5. North-east District, Near Calne, Copses round the foot of
Martinsell. “‘ Woods beyond Great Bedwin,” Mr. William Bartlett.
*‘Rabley copse and Mildenhall borders,” Rev. ZT. A. Preston.
Flowers few drooping much larger than in G. wrbanum, the petals
less spreading of a dull purplish colour, with a tint of orange.
Carpels very hairy, in a globular head, which is shortly stalked

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 63

above the calyx. Where this and the common Avens grow together,
specimens are occasionally found which partake of the characters
of both approaching sometimes more nearly to the one, sometimes
to the other. They have been described as a species under the
name of G. intermedium (Ehrhb.), but they are more generally be-
lieved to be mere accidental hybrids, between the two species.

Rosa, (Linn.) Rose.
Linn. Cl. xii. Ord. iii.

Name. The Rosa of Latin authors, perhaps from the Celtic
_ Rhos, signifying red, the colour of most of the species.
1. R. tnodora (Fries) scentless Rose or Briar. Engl. Bot. t. 2574.
Locality. Downs, open bushy commons, thickets and hedges.
Sh. Fl. June, July. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. More or less distributed
throughout all the Districts. This species has certainly a great
affinity with R. canina (Linn.) and indeed it appears to be nothing
_ more than a doubly serrated downy-leaved variety of that variable
species.
| 2. R. canina (Linn.) Common Dog Rose. Engi. Bot. t. 992.
Locality. Hedges and thickets, very common. Sh. Fi. June,
duly. Area, 1. 2. 8.4.5. Distributed throughout all the Districts.
The most frequent of our native Roses, Prickles uniform hooked.
| Leaflets ovate, acute, smooth or slightly hairy, without glands,
mostly carinate, with simple serratures. Cua/yx-segments fully
pinnate, deciduous. Sfy/es not united. Fruit ovate, smooth, shoots
ascending. The Wiltshire Roses answering to the above character
_ may be subdivided as follows :—
a. Leaflets naked, carinate, serratures simple, R. canina. Woods.
b. Leaflets naked, carinate, serratures compound, R. sarmentacea.
Woods. Lngl. Bot. Suppl. 2595.
_ ¢. Leaflets naked, flat, serratures simple, R. swreulosa Woods.
d. Leaflets more or less hairy, flat, R. dumetorum. (Thuil.)
Engl. Bot. Suppl. 2611.
This species is liable to innumerable variations in different soils
and situations, and is a suspected parent of several acknowledged
forms.

64 The Flora of Wiltshire.

3. R. systyia (Woods,) close styled Dog Rose. The name systyla
is compounded of sun, united, and stu/os, a column. The styles
being united in acolumn. Engl. Bot. t. 1895.

Locality. Hedges and thickets on stiffclay soil. Rare. Sh. Fi.
June, July. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Sparingly distributed through the
Districts, nearly resembling in its more frequent form RK. canina
(Linn.) in habit, but well distinguished by its rough glandular or
bristly peduncles and close hairless styles, often reaching the
height of eight or twelve feet, its erect habit being the chief char-
acter of distinction from the next species.

4. R. arvensis (Huds.) trailing white Dog Rose. Engl. Bot. t.
188.

Locality. Shady hedges, thickets, woods, and on the borders of
fields, not uncommon. Sh. Fl. June, July. Area, 1. 2.3. 4. 5.
Common in all the Districts.

This is distinguished from all the other British species by its
trailing habit, its cord-like decumbent shoots, and solitary scattered
prickles. The Ayrshire Rose which is supposed by some to be of
American origin, and to have been introduced into Ayrshire by
the Earl of Loudon is considered by some botanists as only a
variety of R. arvensis.

Cratzeus (Linn.) Hawrnorn.
Linn. Cl. xii. Ord. ii.

Name. From (cratos) strength, in reference to the hardness and
strength of the wood.

1. C. cxyacantha (Linn.) Hawthorn, White- thorn or May. The
Latin noun oxycantha is a compound of ozu sharp, and acantha
a thorn, sharp-thorned. Engi. Bot. t. 2504.

Locality. Everywhere planted for fences, but abundantly wild
in woods, thickets, bushy flelds, pastures, &c. Shrubor Tree. i.
May, June, bears fruit in September. Area, 1. 2. 3.4.5. In all
the Districts. Variable in the form of its leaves, the down of its
foliage and calyx, the number of styles, and the colour and size of
the flower and fruit. This beautiful shrub which forms the hedges,
and natural thickets in most parts of the county attains a size from

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 65

five or six to ten or twenty feet high. Branches smooth, thorny ;
thorns, lateral awl-shaped, sharp. Leaves alternate, stalked, deep
green, glossy, tapering at the base, and more or less divided
upwards into three or five lobes or segments, which are irregularly
toothed or even lobed. The flowers are sweet scented, and are
produced in terminal corymbs; they are generally white, but
sometimes they are pink or almost scarlet. In clayey soils the
petals present various shades of pink and red, and the “Red May”
of our pleasure gardens is derived from some of these originally
wild varieties. The anthers are pink, changing to black. The
styles vary in number from one to two, and sometimes three in
different flowers of the same bunch. The /rwit is mealy, insipid,
and mostly of a dark red colour when ripe; its cells, as many as the
: styles, furrowed externally and very hard. There are several
_ varieties of this plant cultivated in Wiltshire, as the large scarlet
_ Hawthorn, the yellow-berried Hawthorn, the maple-leaved and

the double blossomed, but perhaps the most remarkable is the
_ Glastonbury Thorn” (Cr. ox. precox,) which comes into leaf and
_ flowers about Christmas.! The other varieties are grown more

proceeded from Palestine, they passed up the Great Western Channel of Britain,
and landed on the Island of Avalon, so named by the Romans—“ Insula
Ayalonica,” being surrounded by water from the Western Channel. The place
where St. Joseph landed is recorded and known by the existing remains of an
embankment, denominated in the ancient maps of Avalon, the Sea-wall. It is
_ situated on the northern side of a hill formerly called Worral Hill, or Weary-
all Hill, at the present time a park, now or lately belonging to William Strode,
Esq.; and on the western eminence of this mount was erected the first Christian
_ Standard in Britain, the exact spot having been commemorated at a very early
period by the planting of a Hawthorn-tree brought from a southern climate,

which put forth its flowers about the advent of the Christmas Festival, that
_ being in fact the period at which it blossoms in its native country of Palestine.
_ An ignorant and credulous age did not lose sight of so extraordinary a pheno-
- menon, and accordingly it was speedily invested with the obscurity of a super-
_ stitious legend. The tree was cut down in the reign of Charles the First by a Pro-
testant soldier, it being regarded as a relic of superstition; the stump, or root,
remained visible so late as the year 1750, the spot where it grew being marked
by a stone fixed in the ground, bearing this inscription: I.A.A.D.XXXI. Several
trees have since been propagated by means of grafts from the original ; the oldest
at present existing, and taken from Worral Hill, stands near St. John’s Church
_ at Glastonbury, and was planted about the year 1600; others are preserved in

‘VOL. IX.—NO. XXV. F

66 The Flora of Wiltshire.

on account of their departure from the type or species, than for
any peculiar beauty they possess. Sir William Hooker observes
that few of our native plants present a more beautiful appearance
than a well-grown tree of ‘“Hawthorn-hoar,” with its massy
foliage, and innumerable white and fragrant blossoms.

“From the White-thorn the May-flower shed
Its dewy fragrance round our head.”

Pyrvus, (Linn.) Pear, Appre, SeRvICE.
Linn. Cl. xii. Ord. ii.

Name. Derived from the Celtic peren, or Gaelic peur, a pear.

1. P. Malus, (Linn.) Wild Apple,! Crab-tree. Malus (Lat.) an
apple-tree, a word used by Virgil. Engl. Bot. t. 179.

Locality. Hedgerows and rough bushy places. Tree, Fl. April,
May. In fruit, September and October. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Not
unfrequent in the Districts. Tree of moderate elevation, with spread-
ing branches. Leaves ovate, or oblong, cr orbicular, toothed or
crenulate, slightly downy when young, on very short petioles.
Flowers large, roseate on the outside or entirely white on short
pedicels. Fruit large, downy when in a young state, glabrous
when old, umbilicate both at the base and at the apex. We have
two forms of this tree in Wilts. Var. a. “P. acerba” (D.C.);
Leaves glabrous. Fruit very austere. Var. 6. tomentosa (Koch ;)
Leaves pubescent. Fruit agreeable. This tree or this variety is
said to be the original of the hundreds, or probably thousands, of
sorts of apple-trees, which have been cultivated everywhere from
time immemorial.

2. P. Aria, (Smith) White Beam-tree. Aria, the name given
to this tree by Theophrastus, is probably from the name of that
country in Asia. Engl. Bot. t. 1858.

Locality. Woods on a chalky soil. Rare. Tree Fl. May.

the town and country adjacent. It does not appear to differ from the common
Thorn (‘' Crategus Oxyacantha”) except in the stipules beimg lunar-shaped,
toothed, aud very large, and in the period of its flowering.

1The word apple is derived from the Celtic ball, a round body ; whence also
abhall in Gaelic, and apfel in German.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 67

Fruit, August, September. Area, 1.* 3.4.5. Sparingly distributed
throughout Wilts.
South Division.
1. South-east District, “Amesbury,” Dr. Southby. “‘Brickworth,”
Mr. James Hussey.
3. South-west District, Woods at Corsley and Longleat. “ Ber-
wick St. John and Ashcombe,” Mr. James Hussey.
North Division.
4. North-west District, Woods at Kingsdown, Box, and Colerne
Park. ‘ Middle-Pickwick near Corsham,” Dr. Alexander Prior.
5. North-east District, “Bottom of White Horse Down near
Marlborough,” Mr. T. W. Jones.
Usually a taller tree than the following, Leaves white cottony
below in all stages, ovate or oblong, doubly or unequally toothed,
loose, tapering, nearly entire. Styles two to three, hairy below.
Fruit roundish, pulpy when ripe, of an acidulous taste.
3. P. ¢orminalis, (Smith) Wild Service-tree,' or Sorb. The name
torminalis, signifies gripings, from the griping pains it produces in
the bowels, when eaten before the fruit has been touched by the
frost, after which it becomes more wholesome. Engl. Bot. t. 298.
Locality. In woods and hedges, rare in the county. Tree FV.
April, May. Fruit in September. Area, 1. * * 4. *
South Division.
1. South-east District, ‘Clarendon Woods near Salisbury,”
Mr. W. H. Hatcher.
North Division.
4. North-west District, Haselbury Bottoms near Box. Draycote
Park, and in Cottles Wood, Atworth. ‘ Ford,” Dr. Alexander
Prior?

1The name Service, applied to the tree and its fruit, is probably derived from

Cerevisia, or Cervisia, a liquor prepared from grain (Cerealia) by the ancient
Gauls, and analagous to our beer, of which beverage a kind has been brewed
time out of mind from the berries of some tree of the present genus, called
Sorbus, by the ancients ‘‘quod ejus succum sorbere volent. The Welsh prepare
a similar drink at this day from the fruit of the Mountain Ash, called Sorbus
sylvestris by many of the older writers on plants.

2 ¢ Service-trees grow naturally in Grettwood, in the parish of Gretenham,

F2

68 The Flora of Wiltshire.

A tree of slow growth, but sometimes of considerable size, with
a large trunk spreading at the top into many branches, so as to
form a large head. Leaves broadly ovate, or slightly cordate at
the base, with lanceolate or triangular serrated lobes, glabrous.
Flowers corymbose, on downy or shaggy peduncles and pedicels.
Fruit ovate, brown, partaking of the quality of the Medlar, both
in the green and in the ripe state.

(P. communis, (Linn.) and P. aucuparia, (Gaert) have both been
occasionally met with in the county; the former an escape from
the orchard, the latter from plantations.)

ORDER. LYTHRACEA. (JUSS.)
Lytrurum, (Linn.) Lyrurum.
Linn. Cl. xi. Ord. 1.

Name. From lythron, (Lat.) gore; in allusion to the purple
colour of the flowers.

1. L. Salicaria, (Linn.) Spiked Purple Loosestrife. Purple
Willow herb, from saliz (Lat.) a willow. Engi. Bot. t. 1061.

Locality. Banks of rivers, wet ditches, and in watery places
frequent. P. Fl. July, August. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Distributed
throughout all the Districts.

This plant produces its long and beautiful spikes of purple
flowers in great abundance during the latter part of the summer,
at which season it is a very elegant and conspicuous ornament to
the margins of our Avon, ponds, and watery ditches.

Prpiis, (Linn.) WATER PURSLANE.
Linn. Ol. vi. Ord. i.

Name. From peplis, the ancient Greek name for the genus
Portulaca (Eng., Purslane), now applied to this plant from its
similarity of habit.

1. P. Portula, (Linn.) common Water Purslane. Engl. Bot. t.
P2U1S ie deats

belonging to George Ayliffe, Esq. In the parke of Kington St. Michael is
onely one. At the foot of Hedington Hill, and also at the bottome of the hill
at Whitesheet, which is the same range of hill, doe growe at least twenty
cervise-trees. They operate as medlars, but less effectually.” ‘‘Aubrey’s
Nat. Hist. of Wilts,” p. 56.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 69

Locality. In marshy and watery places on a sandy or gravelly
_ soil, especially such as become dry in summer. A. Fl. July,
_ August. Area, 1. * 3. * 5,
South Division.

1. South-east District, “Watery places near Salisbury,” Mr. James

Hussey.
3. South-west District, “In the neighbourhood of Warminster,”
Mr. R. C. Griffith.
q North Division.
North-east District, “Pond near Firs, on the way to Martinsell,”’
“Pond near Clench common.” Flora Marlb. Plant prostrate five
- to six inches long, creeping, slightly branched. Leaves glabrous,
tapering at the base. Flowers small reddish. I have no note of

_ the occurrence of this species in Districts 2 and 4. Possibly it may
have been overlooked.

ORDER. ONAGRACEA. (JUSS.)
Epitosium, (Liny.) Wittow-Hers.
Linn. Cl. viii. Ord. i.

_ Name. A compound of epi, and Jobos, a pod; the flower being
placed upon the top of an elongated seed vessel.

1. E. angustifolium, (Linn.) narrow-leaved Willow-herb; from
angustus, signifying narrow, and folium a leaf. Engl. Bot. t.
1947.

Locality. Moist banks, and margins of woods on sandy soil, rare.
P. Fi. July. Area, 1. * 3. 4. 5.

‘a South Division.

1. South-east District, « Amesbury,” Dr. Southby.

8. South-west District, Stourton and Longleat. “Corsley,”’ Miss
Grifith. ‘ Warminster;’ Mr. Wheeler.

4 North Division.

4. North-west District, “ Chippenham,” Dr. Alexander Prior and
Mr. C. E. Broome.

5. North-east District, “ Great Bedwyn,” Mr. William Bartlett.
Vot widely spread over Wilts, and possibly introduced. Flowers
ery handsome, crimson, numerous, in long terminal racemes, the

70 The Flora of Wiltshire.

stamens and styles inclined downwards. Stigma deeply four-lobed.
Pod one to two inches long, more or less hoary.

2. KE. hirsutum, (Linn.) hairy Willow-herb. Engl, Bot. ¢. 838.

Locality. Banks of the Avon, sides of ditches and rivulets, in
open sunny places, frequent. P. Fl. July, August. Area,
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Whole plant soft, downy and clammy, exhaling a peculiar acid-
ulous scent, justly compared to the flavour of boiled codlings, and
cream. lowers in leafy corymbose clusters, large, of a delicate
pink, with cloven regular petals, and erect stamens and style.
Germen downy, very long. A white flowered variety has been
observed at Holt (Dist. 4) by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe.

3. HE. parviflorum, (Schreb.) small-flowered Willow-herb. Engl.
Bot. t. 795.

Locality. By brooks and ditches, along hedges, lanes and road-
sides, frequent. P. Fl. July, August. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all
the Districts, but less abundant than the last. This is distinguished
from the former by its smaller statue and much smaller flowers.
The lower leaves also, and sometimes the upper ones are shortly
stalked; the middle ones usually sessile, but scarcely clasping the —
stem. Petals smaller and paler than in E. hirsutum. Buds obtuse.
Fruit erect, five or six times as long as the pedicels. Seeds obovate,
with a fine silky crown.

4. E. montanum, (Linn.) mountain Willow Herb. Engl. Bot. t.
1177.

Locality. In similar places with the two preceding species, but
often in drier situations, as on walls and cottage roofs. P. Fi. July,
August. Area,1.2.3.4.5. Distributed throughout all the Districts.
It varies much in the size of the flowers which are pink or white,
or very pale rose-colour. Petals twice as long as the sepals,
notched. Seeds ovate or oblong, finely shagreened.

5. E. tetragonum, (Linn.) square-stalked Willow-herb. So
called from tetra (Gr.) four, and gonia, an angle. Eng. Bot. t.
1948. Curt. i. 66.

Locality. In wet ditches, and watery places. P. Fi. July,
August. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

— eee

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 71

branched with two to four elevated lines. Leaves sessile or nearly so,
narrow and toothed. lowers small, rose coloured, in terminal
leafy racemes. Stigma entire and club-shaped, seeds oblong with a
sessile plume. A form of this plant in which the scions are elong-
ated with scattered leaves, has been called E. virgatum, or obscurum,
(Schreb).

6. E. palustre, (Linn.) marsh Willow-herb. Engi. Bot. t.

346.
Locality. On marshy ground and in bogs, not common. P. Fi.

July, August. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. *
South Division.

1. South-east District, ‘« Bogs on Alderbury Common,” Dr. Maton,
(Nat. Hist. Wilts.) ‘Downton,’ Major Smith. “ Amesbury,”
— Dr. Southby.

2. South Middle District, “ Marshy ground at Stratford,” Major
— Smith.
3. South-west District, ‘ Corsley,” Miss Griffith.

North Division.
4. North-west District, Boggy ground at South Wraxhall,
sparingly. This is a very variable species. The plant is often
bushy, branching from the base. The stem is often pubescent or
puberulent, and the leaves are often strongly toothed ; it varies in
‘size with the various localities, where it is found. The Alderbury
- station should again be examined.

Not uncommonly distributed throughout Wilts. Stem usually much
4

Tv

Circma, (Linn.) Encuanter’s Nicut-Swabe.
Linn. Cl. ii. Ord. i.

Sh Lutetia is the ancient name for the metropolis of France.
Engi. Bot. t. 1056.
_ Locality. Woods and damp shady places, frequent; occasionally

72 The Flora of Wiltshire.
ORDER. HALORAGACEZA. (R. BROWN.)

MyriopHyLium, (Linn.) Warer Mitrott.
Linn. Ol. xxi. Ord. vii.

Name. From myrios, innumerable, and phyllon, a leaf, in allusion
to its many cut leaves: thus also English Milfoil, from m/e (Lat.)
a thousand, and folium, a leaf.

1. M. spicatum, (Linn.) spiked Water Milfoil. Engl. Bot. t.
83.

Locality. In the Kennet & Avon, and Wilts & Berks Canal;
also in clear slow streams, not unfrequent. P. Fl. June, July.
Area, 1. 2. 8.4.5. More generally distributed throughout the
northern than the southern districts of the county. Herb smooth,
floating under water, with branching round stems, and dark green
finely pinnatifid spreading /eaves, four in each whorl. Flowers in
several whorls rising above the surface, on simple terminal leafless
branches, with four small entire bracteas under each whorl. Calyx
acute, finely fringed. Petals reddish.

2. M. verticillatum, (Linn.) whorled Water Milfoil. Hing/. Bot. ¢.218.

Locality. In ponds and watery ditches, not common. P. Fi.
July, August. Area, * * * 4. 5.

North Division.

4. North-west District, “In the ponds at Lacock Abbey,”
Dr. Alexander Prior. ‘ Flor. Bath.”

5. North-east District, Canal between Swindon and Purton.

Not unfrequently passed over for the last species, M. spivatum (L.),
but the flowering part of the stem, or branches. rises above the water,
covered to the top with smaller, less deeply cut /eaves, in the bosoms
of which several whorls of flowers are situated, the upper most
chiefly with stamens only; lowermost less numerous, with pistils;
intermediate ones often with both. Peta/s small, white, deciduous.

Hirrvurts, (Linn.) Mare’s Tatu.
Linn. Cl. i. Ord. i.
Name. From hippos a horse, and owra a tail; in allusion to its

mode of growth.
1. H. vulgaris, (Linn.) common Mare’s Tail. Engl. Bot. t. 763.

St. 44. i.

a

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 73

Locality. In stagnant water and slow streams, rare. P. Fi.
June, July. Area, * * 3. 4. 5.
South Division.
3. South-west District, ‘“‘Marshy places and ditches about Brit-
ford,” Major Smith.
North Division.
4. North-west District, In the river at Lacock. ‘In a pond be-
hind Lacock Abbey,” Dr. Alewander Prior.
5. North-east District, Canal between Swindon and Purton.
“Great Bedwin,” Mr. William Bartlett. The whole plant has a
general resemblance, although no affinity, to some of the more
slender species of Eguisetum, often called Horsetails, or even
Marestails. The French call this herb Pesse d’eau, from its
resemblance to a pine-tree in miniature.

7% ORDER. CUCURBITACEZ. (JUSS.)
Bryonia, (Linn.) Rep Bryony.
Linn. Cl. xxi. Ord. v.

Name. From bruo, to sprout up, in allusion to its rapid growth.

1. B. dioica, (Linn.) dicecious red-berried Bryony. Engi. Bot.t.439.

Locality. In woods, thickets, hedges, and fences. P. FV. May,
September. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Frequent throughout the county ;
- particularly in the North-west District. This is an interesting
plant to the English botanist, as being the only indigenous example
_ of its natural order, but it contains several exotic genera, some
species of which are used in medicine, and a few which are culti-
vated in our gardens as articles of food, as the medon, the cucumber,
the gourd, the squash, or vegetable marrow. The root which fre-
quently grows to a very large size, is occasionally sold for the real
mandrake (‘ A?’ropa mandra’gora’) as endowed with virtues similar
to the mandrakes mentioned in Scripture, of which nothing is
known but by conjecture.
| ORDER. PORTULACEA. (JUSS.)

Monta, (Linn.) Brinxs.

‘Linn. Cl. iii. Ord. iii.
_ Name. So called after Joseph Monti, Professor of Botany at
Bologna, 1719. .
‘OL. IX.—NO. XXV. G

74 The Flora of Wiltshire.

1. M. fontana, (Linn.) water Blinks. Engl. Bot. t.1206. S¢. 11,1.
Locality. By the sides of little clear rills, and in watery places,
especially on a sandy or gravelly soil. Rare. A. Fi. April, May,
June. Area, 1. * * 4. *
South Division.

1. South-east District, “Bogs near Alderbury,” Dr. Maton.

“ Nat. Hist. of Wilts.” “Salisbury,” Mr. James Hussey.
North Division.

4. North-west District, “In a field called “ England’s,” near
Chippenham,” Dr. Alexander Prior. A little, glabrous, green,
somewhat succulent annual, forming dense tufts, from one to five
inches in height, the stems becoming longer and weaker in more
watery situations. The flowers often appear in a half-open state,
whence one of the English names Blinks, but when the sun shines
on them they expand. .

ORDER. PARONYCHIACEZ. (A. ST. HIL.)
Lepriconum, (Linn.) Scaty-sJorinrep SANnDWworT.
Linn. Cl. x. Ord. iii.

Name. From lepis, a scale, and gonu, a knee or joint; from the
appearance of the stipulate leaves which proceed from the joints of
the stem.

1. L. rubrum, (Fr.) red Scaly-jointed Sandwort. Arenaria rubra,
Engl. Bot. t. 852.

Locality. Dry gravelly or sandy soil. Rare. <A. Fl. May,
September. Area, 1. * * 4. *

South Division.

South-east District, “Sandy parts of Alderbury Common,” Dr.

Maton. ‘ Nat. Hist. Wilts,” and Mr. James Hussey.
North Division.

4. North-west District, Fields about Sandy Lane. Between the
“ George Inn,” and the keeper’s lodge; also in Spye Park. Only
as yet observed in Districts 1 and 4. Very much branched and
spreading. Flowers numerous in the axils of the upper /eaves,
solitary. Petals ovate, red; about aslongasthe calyx. Peduneles
after flowering, slightly bent back.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 75

Spereura, (Linn.) Spurrey.

Linn. Cl. x. Ord. iv.

: Name. Said to be derived from spargere, (Lat.) to scatter,
(Italian) spergere, from the seeds being so widely dispersed. Spur-
rey, probably from the whorled disposition of the leaves, resembling
a spur.

1. S. arvensis, (Linn.) corn-field Spurrey. ng/. Bot. t. 1536.
Locality. Cultivated land, especially on sandy and gravelly
soils. A. Fl. June, September. Area, 1. * 3. 4. 5.
South Division.
1. South-east District, “Oultivated land about Salisbury,”

_ Mr. James Hussey. A troublesome weed in the “cornfields about
Pewsey,” Rev. T. F. Ravenshaw.

3. South-west District, ‘‘ Cornfields at Corsley and Warminster,”

_ Miss Griffith.

North Division.

_ North-west District, Sandy corn-fields, at South Wraxhall. The
Horse and Jockey. Spye Park and Bowden Hill.

_ 5. North-east District, “Field near New Mill; and Clench Com-
mon.” “ Flora Marlb.” Probably scattered more or less throughout
_ Wilts. Leaves whorled with minute membranaceous stipules, at
_ their base, stalk of the fruit reflexed. Seeds slightly compressed,
_ with a narrow margin, tubercled or papillose. —

ScrerantHus, (Linn.) KNAWEL.
Linn. Cl. x. Ord. i.

Name. Compounded of scleros, hard, and anthos, a flower, in
allusion to its dry hard calyx. Knawel from the German name of
the plant Knawel. Kniauel or Knauel, signifies a knot, or aggre-
gate in roundish masses of any small bodies. Knot-grass, the old
_ English name, better describes the plant.
1. 8. annuus, (Linn) annual Knawel. Engi. Bot. ¢. 352.
4 _ Locality. In dry barren or sandy fields and pastures, waste and
cultivated eo A. Fil. June, July. Area, 1. * 3. 4. 5.
4 . South Division.
be A. South-east District; “ Corn-fields at Salisbury,” Mr. James

G2

76 The Flora of Wiltshire.

2. South-west District, ‘‘Corn-fields in sandy spots near Clerebury
Camp,” Dr. Maton. “Nat. Hist. Wilts.” ‘Corsley and War-
minster,” Miss Griffith.

North Division.

4. North-west District, Corn-fields about Bradford, and near
South Wraxhall. “Gravel pit in Spye Park,” Miss Meredith.
“Bowden and near Spye Park Lodge,” Dr. Alexander Prior.

5. North-east District, Top of Martinsell. “Flor. Marib.”
“Great Bedwyn,” Mr. William Bartlett. This species has been
observed abundant on gravel, but scarce on clay, and wanting on
chalk.

ORDER. CRASSULACEA. (DE CAND.)
Sepum, (Linn.) Sronrcrop.
Linn. Cl. x. Ord. iv.

Name. Said to be from sedeo (Lat.), to sit; in allusion to the
manner of growth upon stones, walls, and roofs of houses; whence
also the English name Stonecrop.

1. S. Telephium, (Linn.) Orpine. Live-long. (Telephion) is an
old Greek name of some plant. Engl. Bot. ¢t. 1819. Reich.
Icones t. 968.

Locality. Hedge-banks, bushy places, and borders of fields.
P. Fl. July, August. Area, 1. * 3. 4. 5.

South Division.

1. South-east District, “‘ Amesbury,” Dr. Southby.

3. South-west District, “Priory wood near Corsley,”’ Wiss
Griffith. ‘ Warminster,” Mr. Wheeler.

North Division.

4. North-west District, “‘Biddestone,”’ Miss Ruck. ‘Near the

Lodge, Spye Park, Dr. Alexander Prior.

5. North-east District, ‘West Woods; Clatford, and Rabley —

Copse.” ‘“ Flor. Marib.”
Sparingly distributed throughout Wiits. This plant should be
looked for where the soil is gravelly or calcareous.
2. S. album, (Linn.) white Stonecrop. ngl. Bot. t. 1578.
Locality. Old walls. P. Fl. July, August. Area, * * 3, 4. 5.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 77

South Division.

3. South-west District, “ Walls at Upper West Wood,” Mr. John
Jelly. ‘ MS. Flora.”

North Division.

4. North-west District, On the wall by the side of the Chitrnah Ba
road at Wans. ‘On thatch about Calne and Christian Malford,”
Mr. Sole. “MS. Flora.” Malmesbury,” Mr. Edward Hull.

5. North-east District, Walls at Purton. ‘ Wall at the back of
Pulton Farm.” “ Flor. Marib.” The locality in the “ South-west
District” should again be verified. Has this plant been observed
of late at Calne and Christian Malford ?

3, 8. acre, (Linn.) biting Stonecrop Wall Pepper. Engl. Bot. t.
839.

Locality. On walls and roofs, less commonly on the ground.
P. Fl. June, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Distributed more or less throughout all the Districts. Whole plant
smooth, succulent and tender, of a grass-green, forming lax, wide
spreading tufts, and when extending itself over the roofs of cot-
tages or the tops of walls, its golden blossoms cannot fail to arrest
the attention even of the most superficial observer. It is very acrid,
and when chewed in the mouth has a hot biting taste, whence, and
from the common place of its growth has attained the name of
“ Wall Pepper.”

4. 8. sexangulare, (Linn.) sexangular Sedum, insipid yellow
Stonecrop. Engl. Bot. t. 1946.

Locality. Olid walls. P. Fl. July. Area, 1.* ** *

South Division.

1. South-east District, *‘On the famous rotten walls of Old
Sarum,” Mr. Dawson Turner. “Bot. Guide.” Probably an intro-
_ duced species. Liable to be mistaken at first sight with “S. acre,”
_ (L.) which it resembles in the inflorescence, but readily distinguished
_ by the form and insertion of the leaves. This plant am fearful is
now Jost, not having been found for many years. Mr. James
_ Hussey and myself have repeatedly searched the locality without
_ being successful in finding it. I would suggest that the ‘Close
walls of New Sarum” would be more likely to afford ‘‘ Sedum

Se

ee ee

78 The Flora of Wiltshire.

sewangulare,” than the small fragments of wall at “Old Sarum.”

5. 8. reflecum, (Linn.) reflexed yellow Stonecrop. Engl. Bot. t.
695.

Locality. Old walls oceasionally. P. Fl. July, August. - Area,
* 2.3. 4. *

South Division.

2. South Middle District, Old walls at Seend. ‘ Westbury,”
Mrs. Overbury.

8. South-west District, “Corsley,” Miss Griffith. ‘‘ Warminster,”
Mr. Wheeler.

North Division.

4. North-west District, Walls at Winsley and Sandy Lane.
‘‘Chippenham,” Dr. Alexander Prior. ‘‘ Malmesbury,” Mr. Edward
Hull. Most of the localities for this plant being on garden
walls, and the ruins of old buildings, it may possibly not be truly
native in Wilts.

6. S. dasyphyllum, (Linn.) thick-leaved Stonecrop, has been
observed at Purton, (District 5,) by Mr. Edward Hull. It should
be looked for in other parts of the county.

Many of the species of this genus are difficult to distinguish from
each other, owing to the influence which the situation in which
they have grown has had upon them, for they flourish well either
upon the dripping rock beneath the shade of trees, or exposed to
every change of atmosphere on the tops of walls, ruined buildings,
rocks, etc., and in accomodating itself to all these varieties of
existence it is not surprising that it should be variable in its
characters.

[ Sempervivum tectorum, (Linn.) common House-leek. Engi. Bot. t.
1320. Occasionally observed on the roofs, and walls of cottage
gardens (planted) in Wilts. It has no pretentions whatever to be
considered native. |

CoryLepon, (Linn.) NaveLwort.

Linn. Cl. x. Ord. i.

Name. From kotyle, (Gr.) a cup, to which the leaves of some of
the species, bear a distant resemblance.

ee

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 79

1. C. umbilicus, (Linn.) common Navel-wort. From wmbilicus
(Lat.) the navel, from the hollow leaves. Engl, Bot. t. 325.

Locality. On old walls. P. Fl. June, October. Area, * 2.3. 4.5.

South Division. ;

2. South Middle District, walls at Seend. ‘Heytesbury,” Mr.
Rowden.
3. South-west District, ‘Old stone walls about Dinton,” Dr.
+» Maton. “Nat. Hist. Wilts.” ‘Donhead,” Mr. James Hussey.
_ © Warminster,” Mr. Wheeler.

we a 1

North Division.
i 4. North-west District, walls at Limpley Stoke, Monkton Farley,
_ Biddestone, Easton, Castle Coombe, and Malmesbury. ‘Chippen-
ham,” Dr. Alewander Prior. “Tytherton,” Mr. Thomas Coward.
5. North-east District, on a wall by the roadside near the church
at Purton.
More frequently distributed throughout the North Western than
the South Eastern parts of the county.

ORDER. GROSSULARIACEA. (DE CAND.)
Rises, (Linn.) GooseBeRRY AND CURRANT.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. i.

Name. Ribes was a word applied by the Arabian Physicians, to
a species of rhubarb, Rheum Ribes: our older botanists believed
that it was our Gooseberry, and hence Bauhin called that plant
Rides acidum.
1. R. Grossularia, (Linn.) common Gooseberry. Grrossus, or
grossulus, (Lat.) signifies a green or unripe fig, which the fruit may
_ resemble. Gooseberry ; because eaten with young geese as sauce.
Engl. Bot. t. 1292 and 2057.
Locality. Hedges, thickets, and waste ground. Sh. Fl. April,
— May. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Oceurriug in all the districts but doubt-
fully native. Neither Gerarde, Parkinson, nor Ray, mention the
gooseberry as being found wild in England.
RB. nigrum, (Linn.) and R. rubrum, (Linn.) Engl. Bot. t. 1291
and 1289, are occasionally met with in various parts of the county,
the former in low swampy thickets, and along the margins of

80 The Flora of Wiltshire.

streams, the latter in woods and hedges. Neither species I fear
can be considered but escapes from cultivation.

ORDER. SAXIFRAGACEZ. (JUSS.)
SaxrrraGa, (Linn.) SAXIFRAGE.
Linn. Cl. x. Ord. ii.

Name. Compounded of sazuwm )Lat.) a stone, and frango (Lat.)
to break; in allusion to its roots penetrating the crevices of
rocks and stones, among which they generally grow, or to its
supposed medicinal qualities.

1. S. tridactylites, (Linn.) three-fingered Saxifrage. From freis,
three, and dactyios, a finger; in allusion to the division of the
leaves. Engl. Bot. t. 501. St. 33, 15.

Locality. Old walls. A. Fl. April, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Frequent in all the Districts. Whole plant downy and glutinous,
tinged with more or less of a rich brown or red hue, and very
variable in luxuriance.

2. S. granulata, (Linn.) white meadow Saxifrage. The name
granulata, refers to the root, which is composed of a bunch of little
grains,—granulate. Engl. Bot. t. 500.

Locality. In meadows, pastures, on a gravelly soil, and on
downs. P. Fl. May. Area, 1. 2. 3.* 5.

South Division.

1. South-east District, On Manningford and Pewsey Downs.
‘“‘Brickworth,”’ The Hon. J. Fox Strangways. “Meadows near Alder-
bury,” Dr. Maton. “ Nat. Hist. Wilts.” “Salisbury,” Mr. James
Hussey. ‘“ Whiteparish Hill,” Rev. EZ. Simms.

2. South Middle District, On the top of Scratchbury Hill, near
Norton Bavant. ‘On the downs near Westbury,” Mrs. Overbury.

8. South-west District, Cley Hill. “ Bank of a meadow between
West Harnham and Nether Hampton,” Major Smith. “Corsley,”
Miss Griffith.

North Division.

5. North-east District, Roundway Hill, Calne, and Silbury Hill.
« Abundant on the Downs, and on the north side of Martinsell.”
“Sparingly on White Horse Down.” “ Flor. Marlb.”

|

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 81

Rather local in its distribution throughout Wilts, increasing by
seed and by the small granular tubers of the root. The whole
plant is clothed with reddish glandular hairs, which are viscid to
the touch, especially on the calyx and flower-stalk.

CurysosPLentum, (Linn.) Gotpen SaxirraGE.
Linn. Cl. x. Ord. ii.

Name. Compounded of chrysos, gold, and splen, the spleen, in
reference to the golden colour of the flowers, and the supposed
virtue of the plant in diseases of the spleen.

1. C. oppositifolium, (Linn.) opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage.
Engl. Bot. t. 490.

Locality. Sides of rivulets and wet shady places. P. Fl. April,
May. Area, 1. 2. 3.4.5. More or less distributed throughout all
the Districts. Whole plant of a pale glaucous green, and of a
straggling decumbent (especially in the lower part of the stem)
habit, entirely glabrous. Flowers pale lemon colour.

2. C. alternifolium, (Linn.) alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage.
Engl. Bot. t. 54.

Locality. Boggy places, and on the margins of shady rivulets.

P. Fl. March, April. Area, * * 3. 4, * :
South Division.

3. South-west District, ‘Neighbourhood of Warminster,” Diss
Griffith.
} North Division.

4. North-west District, Wet places at Bromham. ‘ Whetham
_ Woods, near Calne,” Mr. Simpson.
_ This species may ultimately be observed to be not uncommon in

the county. Whole plant of a full, deep, cheerful green, and of a
z stiff, erect habit. The lower portion of the stem, lower leaves,
and their long petioles covered with glandular hairs, the upper
leaves and stem glabrous. Flowers deep yellow. The two species
are frequently found growing together, but appear always to retain
their characters.

‘VOL. IX.—NO. XXv. H

82

Ciltshive County Gaols.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson.
(AaHE discovery at Longleat of some old letters and papers
d AR
AIS

relating to this subject, enables me to present to the public
some facts, hitherto unknown. .

In the oldest times about which we have any information, the
chief gaol of the county, the strong closet in which the Sheriff of
Wilts locked up his valuables, was at the Castle of Old Sarum.—
Any culprit, apparent or presumptive, who had to appear before
my Lord Judge at the Assize, was marched off “in Gaolum ad
Castrum Sarum.” Old Sarum was a wonderful place, and every
one who has seen it must have made this remark, “ How in the
world did it ever contain all that it is said to have contained ? ”

We know of a castle, of barracks for soldiers, of a cathedral, of
houses for the cathedral clergy, and then there were streets and
houses for the inhabitants besides. Yet the whole space within |
the walls was only about 274 acres. There was not, even for :
honest men, much room to turn about, so that the rogues in the
cage must have had a pleasant time of it.

Perhaps there was a golden age, and rogues were few. The
Roman Satirist Juvenal, who lived in Imperial days, when wicked-
ness abounded, refers, in lines which classical readers will remember, .
to the more virtuous times of early Rome :— ;

Felices proayorum atayos, felicia dicas
Secula, que quondam sub regibus atque tribunis
Viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam.

which, for non-classical readers, may be thus applied :—

‘*O happy were our sires, estranged from crimes,
And happy, happy, were the good old times,
Which saw, in Saxon or in Norman reign,

One black-hole Wiltshire’s criminals contain!”

One of two things must have been the case. Either vagabonds
were few, or in Old Sarum gaol they must have been packed like
herrings in a cask.

i

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 83

We know by record that there was a gaol delivery at Old Sarum
so late as 1435. How much later a prison was kept up there does
not appear; probably not long, for thirty-three years afterwards,
we find prisoners of importance at New Sarum. Early in the year
1469, Sir Thomas Hungerford, and Courtenay, heir of the Earl of
Devon, having taken part against King Edward IV. were com-
mitted to the Sheriff’s prison at Salisbury, and being condemned to
die, were drawn from their prison through the city, and out of the
city to the gallows at Bemerton, and there hanged.

The authors of the folio history of Salisbury do not throw any
light upon this matter, but the old papers above alluded to give the
fullest particulars of the building of the first County Gaol at
Fisherton near Salisbury, proving that it was certainly in existence
before the Bridewell at Devizes of 1623. The information which
they contain may perhaps be interesting in another respect, as
showing that County establishments, however much needed, were
not got up with quite so much facility in Queen Elizabeth’s reign
as they are now.

Early in the year 1568 the Justices of the Peace, meeting at
Quarter Sessions, determined to build a new County Gaol. The
site first proposed was at East Harnham, in full view of the grounds
of the Bishop’s palace. This intention was abandoned, owing no
doubt to the following remonstrance from Bishop Jewel.

Bishop Jewel to the Wiltshire Magistrates against building a Gaol at
Harnham. [Original at Longleat.}

_ “Right worshipfulles, after my very harty commendations, Where as you

_ have of late determined to erect a common gaole at Easte Harnham, and by

your dealinge withe my neighboure Mayster Yonge, seeme to be thorowly resolved
of the same, as I would haye wisshed for certaine good causes I might have
benne privy to yo" dooinges therein, as beinge joined togeather withe yo" in one
Commission, so nowe I have thought it good to signifie thus mutche unto yo".
That the saide gaole in that place erected muste of force be very daungerous
unto the sherife for the time beinge by meane of breaches and escapes that are
very likely to happen, as being builte not only in a little poore naked village
utterly voide of force or reschewe, but also directely under the whole face of the
plaine: That it muste needes be very incommodious unto the poor prisoners,

__beeinge utterly sequestred from al manner relife of the whole Cittie, from whence

thei have evermore hitherto had theire presente and greatteste aide, and with-
oute whiche thei are like to famishe: And specially that for many greate and

__evidente causes it is like to woorke the ruine of the Cittie. Every of whiche

H 2

84 Wiltshire County Gaols.

things it is easy to finde even by the trial of the eie. As for mine owne poore
parte, it wilbe sutche annoiance unto me, beinge placed within one flighte-
shoote of my house, and directely be-fore my studie, and chamber windowe,
that this yo" determination takinge place, I muste needes be forced to seeke
somme other lodginge, havinge none other house of mine owne in al the world.
Whiche injurie I am wel assured, it was never yo" minde to seeke againste me.

Theise therefore maie be moste hartily to desire yo" to have sutche consider-
ation herein, as I of my parte would have, if the case touched yo" or any of
yours. And leste yo" should thinke, there is none other place conveniente for
that purpose to be had, but onely that of Harnham, I wil take upon me pre-
sentely to deale for an other place in Fisherton, sutche as I doubte not, but yo"
yourselves in yo" owne judgementes, and in al respectes wil thinke to be many
waies more conveniente, then the other, wherof within theise three daies, God
willinge, I wil doo you to understande.

In consideration of theise causes, most hartily desiringe yo" to staie yor for-
mer determination, and to weigh my case by yo" owne, I take my leave and bid
yo" moste hartily wel to fare. From Sarum ii Janrii. 1568,

“‘ Yor poore frende
“Jo: Sarum.”

(Addressed)

“To the right wooshipful, and my very
lovinge frendes Sir John Zouche, Sir John
Thynne, Sir Walter Hungerforde, Knightes:
and to the reste of the Justices of the
peace within the Countie of Wilteshire,
and to every of them.”

Fisherton, on another side of Salisbury, but so close to the city
as to be in fact a part of it, was then chosen. The magistrates
deputed two of their number to manage the business, one of whom
was Christopher Willoughby, Esq., of Knoyle, and the other Sir
John Thynne, the builder of Longleat.

For a piece of ground at Fisherton £150 was to be given to
Mr. A’barowe. In those days there were six divisions of the
county, and the magistrates of each division undertook to raise in
each a certain sum ranging from £160 to £80. Before taxing the
rest of the community the worthy magistrates set a laudable exam-
ple by taxing themselves, in different sums from £10 downwards,
according to the real or presumed length of their several purses.

The first Fisherton Gaol was 53 feet long by 28 feet broad.
There was an upper story, a woman’s prison, and a keeper’s house
adjoining: the walls of the gaol 23 feet high: the inner walls of
the convicts’ department of burr-stone without any ashlar: seven

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 85

windows 3 feet by 2 feet: the floor-planks of oak 3 inches thick;
the walls planked with oak 2 inches thick: stone doorways with
double doors. The iron bars of each window weighed 2llbs. at
3d.alb.: the iron grate for the convicts weighed 254lb. : the bolts
and staples for the doors 3llbs. For the burr-stone the old castle
of Sarum was plundered, 80 loads at 8d. a load being hauled away ;
but before this could be done labourers were employed at 6d. a-day
for 12 days to make a road passable for carts from Old Sarum to
Fisherton. The ashlar stone was fetched from Chilmark; the
earth and mortar from Harnham, the lime and water-sand from
Milford. The tiler was paid 10d. a-day, and the tiles came from
White-parish and Cranbourne. The work went on very slowly,
for the grand difficulty was to get in the money. Rate-paying was
new, and had not yet become the familiar acquaintance which it is
to us. The first poor-rate in Wilts seems to have been about the
year 1553, and the rate for the Gaol, being in 1568, was perhaps
a very early taste of County-rate. The shoulder of the Wiltshire
public was raw to the collar, and though the rate was required for
ridding them of even the most troublesome members of society,
still nobody seemed to like it. In the very first year Mr.
Willoughby became tired of his share of the management, and
writes to his colleague, Sir John Thynne, a despairing epistle, of
which a few lines will suffice.

‘Right worshipful, my duty remembered. There is little forwardness in
these parts to your expedition and mine toward the building of the gaol.
All that is done yet for carriage of stone and lime is upon your credit and mine:
otherwise the work must needs have ceased for lack of money, which I trust you
will notice: for if Mr. A’barowe have not his money paid him within four days
of Midsummer he will discharge us any farther to meddle with his ground and
so the county will say we have begun a wise piece of work. All which premises
I refer to you to consider. And thus I leave, wishing you better health and
better speed in your affairs than we have in ours. From my house at Kuoyle,
_ xi June, 1568.” ‘“P.S. If they do not bring in their first rate after 6d. in

_ the pound before Midsummer day next all the work must needs cease, and the

artificers which have taken it are like to be undone by the same, and I for my
part will never meddle with it again.” -

As Mr. Willoughby does not appear again in the business, he
_ probably carried his threat into execution, and Sir John had it all
_ to himself. He appointed a deputy, who was paid 16d. a-day for

86 Wiltshire County Gols.

himself and 20d. a-day for his horse: and certainly never did man
and beast better earn that good “accommodation” which is invariably
held out to the hopes of man and beast, than did Mr. Richard Parry
and his horse. One day he was to be at Chilmark quarr to see how
they were getting on with the ashlar: then somewhere else to
hunt for scaffold-poles; then off to Old Sarum to look after the
burr-stone; besides being expected to be always at Fisherton to
keep the work alive. This not being enough, he had also to go
here and there to catch money, in which pursuit being unsuccessful
he at last rode to Longleat to know his Worship’s pleasure how
the work was to go on for lack of it. This only led to another
long ride, for his worship bade him go up into North Wilts to get
£15 from one Matthew King, which he had in his hands. So
Richard Parry journeyed on to Malmesbury ; but, says he very
innocently, “at my coming the said Matthew King was not to be
found; but I did hear of his neighbours that he was in prison in
London.” The end of all these hindrances was that this first
County Gaol at Fisherton, 53 feet long by 28 feet broad, was liter-
ally 10 years in building; begun in 1568 and finished in 1578:
on the 8th of January in which year, in order at any rate to close
the business in a business-like way, the assembled justices addressed
to Sir John Thynne the letter following :—

‘‘ Whereas you weare named and appoynted to be one of the persons to
survey, see and provide that a Newe Gayle should be suerly and substancyally
made and fynshed in Fisherton Anger; to whose hands the collectors for that
purpose alsoe appoynted have payde and delyvered suche somes of money as by
them hathe byn collected of her Majesty’s subjects by the appoyntement and
assignment of the Justices of Peace of this countye, as yourself best knoweth :
wherof as yet no accompte hath byn yelded to the satisfaction of the countye as
lawe and reason requireth: these are therefore to praye and require you to be
at Sarum on Thursday, being the xixth day of February next comynge by ix of
the clocke in the forenone of the same daye to declare a trewe and juste accompte
thereof to us or unto suche of us as by lawe is required howe you have payed
and imployed suche somes of money as for this cause hath come to your hands.
And soe commending us unto you leave you unto God. Sarum this yiiith of
January. Your frendes

H. Pembroke, James Mervin, Jasper More, Christopher Dodyngton,
Wm. Husee, John Zouche, George Penruddock, John Danvers,
Bartholomew Horsey, Walter Hungerford, E. Baynton, John Eyre,
Gyles Estcourt, Henry Sharington.”

re

"

On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wilts. 87

Sir John accordingly attended with his balance sheet: from
which it appeared that there was £49 still owing, which the J ustices
of Peace were themselves yet answerable for. Sir John had
received £395 13s. 8d., and had paid £896 3s. 71d.: so that after
ten years trouble in the cause of the public, he was out of pocket
£1 9s. 114d.: and probably glad to get off so easily.

ON THE

Hand and Freshwater Shells of ddlilts.

By the Rev. J. E. Vizz.
Read before the Society during the Annual Meeting at Devizes, August 19, 1863.

© Ta cee are several popular errors with regard to snails and

\( . . .
jk slugs which have arisen from many various causes. Man-

vai
kind generally speaking, seems indisposed to pay favorable attention
to them; the little child finds one of the larger and common kinds
(Helix aspersa) in a hedge or elsewhere, he at once gives the snail
the option of one of two expedients—to extend itself full length
in a crawling position, or else to be put to death.
“¢ Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or else I will beat you as black as a coal.”

The male or female of mature years either passes them by,
frequently with a shudder, as though they were in far greater
danger than the shell, or else determines with a foot, a stick or
stone, to rid the world of what is falsely considered to be a pest
to society, a terror to behold, a creature, which to say the least
is the wholesale destroyer of fruit and vegetable gardens. Now it
will not be very difficult to show that snails and slugs should be
unmolested, as being really of immense benefit to society, so much
so that, if they were extinct without the creation of some other
beings to supply their place, fevers and pestilences would be much

more frequent than they are now. They select (at least all the
larger land ones do) damp places as the feeding grounds; they

88 On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wiits.

prefer dense coppices, walls and trees, where ivy and other para-
sitical plants grow: sometimes (and this is more especially the case
with the smaller kinds) they are to be found under stones, decaying
pieces of timber, at the roots of small shrubs, in the bulbs of tulips,
&c.; indeed, as a rule they choose decidedly moist spots, and why ?
Is the reason to destroy vegetable life wantonly? Certainly not.
The object is to eat—not carrion, which is the food of certain birds,
but just what in vegetable life corresponds to it—garbage of the
lowest kind, which would soon render our woods and gardens any-
thing but as pleasant as they are. This will account for the fact
that in wet weather and gloomy autumnal days, snails are so much
more easily found than before, they sally forth tempted by moisture,
to find fresh food and residence. Of course no pretence is made to
deny the fact that snails frequently do consume food which is not
in a state of decomposition, but they do so principally in the spring
and summer months of the year when the air is not favourable to
decomposition; and then the very food they select is succulent,
such as youthful sweet peas, lupins, &c., a fact which helps to prove
what was to be shown, that snails and slugs are of service to us
instead of being an injury.

There is another popular mistake with regard to snails, which is
that they can with ease leave their own shell and crawl into another
adapted to them. They no more can do so than any of us can get
out of our own skin, find another about our size, and get into it.
There is a very strong ligament which secures the animal to the
shell, as may be proved by a large snail which has just been killed :
considerable force will be necessary to detach it from its covering.
The error no doubt bas arisen from a supposed difficulty with
with regard to growth, how in short, a small snail with a small
skin could become a large one—moreover the mistake may have
originated also from the idea that because caterpillars, spiders,
lobsters, prawns, &c., cast their skins, therefore snails do so; but
the analogy does not hold good: soft skinned creatures should not
be compared with hard skinned; you would not judge of a silk-
worm by a hippopotamus, nor a leech by an elephant. Snails have
the power of discharging a fluid which eventually hardens into the

By the Rev. J. E. Vize. 89

shell; thus it is formed, like ours, of continual readditions from
within. If ever a Paludina vivipara should be obtained, as it
produces its young alive, and has them during the warm season in
every stage, from the fully developed young one down to the
minute gelatinous globule, if a microscope be near, it would be very
interesting to put the gummy masses between glasses in order to
examine them; a good glass, indeed a pocket magnifying lens, will
be sufficient to show the beautiful sruecture of the embryo shell,
and suggest many useful subjects for study. Whilst speaking of
the production of young snails, it will be well now to leave the
consideration of popular mistakes and mention one or two remark-
able facts not generally known. Some of them are Monecious,
that is to say, some snails are both male and female in one body ;
others again are Diecious, as would be expected ; that is, there are
males properly so called, and there are females properly so called.
A singular thing is said to occur in some water snails, they are
born males and become females. It will be interesting also to
state that some shells are oviparous; that is, they lay eggs which
: eventually become of the same species as themselves, some even
nurse them as a hen when sitting, whilst others are viviparous ;
that is, they give birth to their young in a living state. It may
also be said, that as in Botany certain plants receive their names
from odours they discharge, so there are certain snails which obtain
their names from smells emitted; as for instance Zonites alliarius,
_ the Garlic Snail. It may be well to call attention to the beauty of
a cabinet of Land and Fresh-water Shells, the variety of shapes
assumed, the brilliancy of color as well as transparency, the gradual
process of development, and the minuteness of some species, all
-eombine to render them extremely pretty. And if from ordinary
observation as the shells lie empty, a microscope be used in the
examination, so as to view the dissected parts of the creatures,
(particularly with a good polariscope when the object will bear it),
wonders upon wonders are revealed, none being more beautiful
han the teeth: our largest slug, incredible as it may seem, has
no less than 28,800 teeth, one row of teeth numbering 180, whilst
‘the transverse row has 160, which quantities multiplied together

90 On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wilts.

give the large number above. The old Roman snail (Helix Po-
matia) has 21,000. The common Water Snail sold in London as
the Scavenger Snail, has upwards of 12,000; these are all arranged
in rows at right angles to each other, but this arrangement is not
invariable, the Testacelia has a most superb palate fringed with
barbed teeth: remarks will be made about this slug and the
Roman snail presently. Some persons may feel anxious to be
instructed as to the utensils necessary for collecting shells. My
plan is very simple: for all water shells, I use an ordinary tin
strainer or colander of small size, such as would be purchased for
a few pence, and would be used for straining infants’ food, or pearl
barley: the handle of this is knocked out, and through the hole
which will generally be found in it, or a hole purposely made, I
fasten a string. This apparatus will very easily go into a coat
pocket. I have also a walking stick, the bottom of which just fits
the cavity caused by the handle being knocked out of the colander :
just above the ferrule of the stick is a hole made by a gimlet,
through which the string fastened on the strainer is made to pass :
the object of course will be seen at once: it is to fasten the colander
so that it shall not be lost. Equipped then with these two articles
and plentifully supplied with wide mouthed bottles, tin boxes, and
perhaps a fishing can, I am ready to search in the ditches for the
minute bivalves, and in the larger streams and canals for various
creatures, of various sorts.

For land shells, boxes only are needed, combined with good use
of eye-sight, climbing powers, good ability for walking, with some
slight knowledge as to proper places to detect the habitats, a know-
ledge readily acquired by examining any work upon the subject,
or even slightly gained by reading the list of localities intended to
be attached to a future supplement of this paper.

When shells are obtained, they can either be made of service for
the cabinet or for an aquarium. If for the former, let them be
put in a vessel and pour boiling water upon them: but, pray take
care, in order to secure the speedy death of your victims that the
water is thoroughly boiling: it is well to use a little salt in addition
for the larger sorts. When the creatures are dead they may be_

g
Ke
‘,
r.

a

By the Rev. J. E. Vize. 91

detached from their shell by means of a large pin or such like
instrument, care being taken not to injure the mouth of the shell.

If for the latter, let them be turned into an aquarium and run
the risk of accomodating themselves to their new home. Nothing
is simpler than the formation of an aquarium for snails. Purchase
your glass or tank, get some mud from the bottom of a pool, let
it be a couple of inches thick, then procure some stones which may
be placed artistically or flat as preferred, then fill with water. But
be sure to have some vegetable life such as anacharis, chara,
valisneria, &c., with the animal life: for success in an aquarium,
coupled with the advantage of never changing the water, depends
entirely upon a proper balance or proportion of these two things.

It is time now that especial notice be taken of Wilts. With re-
gard to the county it must be understood that all parts lying to
the south-east, except Salisbury, the south-west below Warminster,
the north-west above Chippenham, and the whole of the north-east
divisions, made according to Mr. Flower’s map published in your
Magazine for June, 1858, have been quite unexplored by myself or
any one else known to me. Bat it so happened that having been
led to open and read the Address made at your Sixth General
Meeting (April 1860) part xviil., page 248, the worthy President
remarks “‘ We hope to induce many more to join us who at present
keep aloof from a most mistaken notion that our Society is a very
learned and scientific body, whereas it proposes nothing more for
its objects than the investigation of little-known facts, the elucida-
tion of half forgotton occurrences, the collecting information about
past generations, and some insight into the Natural History of the
County in all its branches.” Let this be sufficient apology for all
imperfections, and if only what is now said can be instrumental in
inducing some one else to be interested in the study, it will be no
harm if from time to time they send to your most excellent

_ Magazine the results of their researches for your acceptance.

Let us compare Wilts with some counties near us, and see

whether it bears a fair proportion of students of Land and Fresh

Water Shells. Comparisons may be odious sometimes, but when

the object is to create a spirit of honest emulation there can be

92 On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wilts.

no harm in it, especially if the name of the counties to which
allusion is made be suppressed. One adjoining us, certainly can
lay claim to a few names, one especially who has been most deeply
interested in the subject, and whose museum certainly bears marks
of very earnest and constant toil, but if we go beyond there and
examine the museum of another city which has for years been
collecting together interesting specimens, there is not a member of
any Natural History Club in the County whose name appears as a
contributor: moreover having been privileged by invitation to make
an excursion on a field day with numbers of members of the
Society existing in the Cathedral City, which too received members
by way of deputation from other Natural History Societies, not
one present knew anything about Conchology as a science, nor did
they know anyone belonging to them who did. Wilts is not so
bad as that; in her Cathedral City a collection of Terrestial and
Fluviatile Shells is progressing, and within sound of her Cathedral
bells there are four friends known to me by correspondence who
are much interested in shells, to say nothing of Mr. (and I believe
I may say Miss) Cunnington here, as well as others favorable to the
study resident in different localities.

This then brings us into direct contact with Wilts. Adopting
at once the classiffication of Mr. Reeve as published in his recent
work, and examining the slugs, we meet with the four genera—

Arion, Geomalacus, Limax, Testacella—embracing under them ~

thirteen species in all. One of these the Geoma/acus Maculosus is
strictly Irish, and very local there, so that we have but to consider
twelve as belonging to England; five only as yet have been placed
upon the Wiltshire list, but there is I find rather a carelessness
about paying attention to slugs: when lists of shells are sent for
comparison or exchange of specimens, the slugs are scarcely ever
found in duplicate, and very frequently not recorded at all, but
there certainly must be more than five slugs in this county.

We pass now to the Colimacea, which owns twelve genera, em-
bracing sixty species: in this county our combined researches have
been instrumental in discovering forty-five of the whole number ;
but out of the deficiency some such as Succinea oblonga, Bulimus

—_—

By the Rev. J. EB. Vize. 93

acutus, Helix Pisana (by the way about the prettiest shell we possess, )
ean only be found in the proximity of the sea; whilst Helix obvo-
luta, has only been discovered in one or two Hampshire localities,
and HZ. lamellata is a north British shell; hence there are but very
few more to secure, except the genus Vertigo, of which five species
are not yet recorded, and which are difficult to obtain alive from
the peculiar residences they choose.

In the next family for examination /awriculacea), there are four
species, three of which are inhabitants only of decidedly brackish
water. This completes the Pulmonifera, i.e. those creatures
having shells which breathe only air, and which have no operculum."

We come now to those which breathe air and water, and which
also have no operculum, the Lymnacea of which there are twenty-
three: out of these twenty are known by us in Wilts, one is strictly
Irish, and the other two doubtless are in the county: one I have
found abundantly in Bath. .

The next tribe consists of those which have an operculum, and

of those which breathe air only : this county has every one of these,

whilst of those which exist only in water, out of the nine we
want but three, two of which are not likely to be found; whilst
the third is thought by many to be little more than a variety of
one which is to be had in multitudes from the Kennet and Avon
Canal. This brings us to the end of those Mollusks which have
heads, and a very few words will suffice for any remarks upon those
which have no heads at all: there are seventeen of them, they all
live in water: thirteen are found here, and there is no valid
reason why the others should not be discovered as time passes on.

From the catalogue of shells used, we number no less than 128
species, out of which 87 have been identified as being Wiltshire
Shells, that is to say, you have at your disposal as to habitat, more

than two-thirds of a complete collection : add to these two-thirds
: those which could not possibly be discovered here from local im-
3 pediments, and those which do exist here unquestionably, but are
not as yet recorded, and the county may lay a very good claim
indeed to distinction as far as its present Land and Fresh Water

1i.e. the plate which covers the mouth of the shell.

94 On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wiits.

Conchology is concerned. This, it seems to me, will be a good
place to record my thankfulness for the help which has been so cheer-
fully tendered towards my paper by Mr. Cunnington of Devizes,
from whom nearly every one of the habitats in this part of the
county came, also by James Hussey, Esq., and Dr. Blackmore, both
of Salisbury, who kindly sent me a list of shells they had discovered
in their neighbourhood, and whose authority is to be taken for all
the Sarum localities: had it not been for their assistance most
assuredly no satisfactory list could have been drawn up.

It may be well here perhaps to notice a few of our rarer
Mollusks, which have been found in this part of England, with a
remark or two upon some singularities with regard to them.

Bulimus Montanus is to be found sparingly here, it is called by
Dr. Gray in his edition of 1857, “ The Wilts Twist Shell,’ but
there is no reason assigned for the name of the county being
attached to it, at all events the inhabitants of Wilts may consider
it a compliment to them, as the learned doctor nowhere else gives
a similar distinction to any county. Its habits are most unusual
when contrasted with other species: it hibernates by burrowing
into the ground at the roots of beech trees, it leaves its winter
quarters in March, ascends the favored tree, (and by the by it
chooses certain beech trees in preference to others,) it enjoys itself
at the top of the trees from March to August, and then descends
to sleep for the remaining half year. The 12th of August will
always be a noted day to me as that on which, through the advice
of a friend, I went to some woods and found the beech trees well
stocked with equal quantities of B. Montanus, L. obscurus, Clausilia
laminata, and Helix lapicida. If any one should ever find at the
root of a tree a dead shell, he may be almost certain to obtain
living specimens by visiting the spot in the months we have
named.

Helix Pomatia is to be found here. Dr. Gray rather singularly
at p. 114, speaking of these shells, asserts that ‘‘they have been
said to be found as far north as Devizes in Wiltshire, and in Gloster-
shire;”’ if he were here he might obtain some from the neighbour-
hood. This shell is the largest of the genus we have, and by some

= anit pisaal

i ie i i

By the Rev. J. E. Vize. 95

has been thought to have been in existence in England only since
the middle of the 16th century: others claim for it the rank of
being indigenous here: it certainly is interesting in its movements,
and although we do not with the Romans of old and the French of
the present day like snail soup, yet the whiteness of the flesh might
render it purer to the sight and taste than a lump of ox tail, at
least to those that like it.

A few words about the Testacella haliotidea, anda beautiful com-
plication of teeth it has; if you hold its palate to the light you will
without auy magnifying power see some of its wonders; the Testa-
cella itself is of rare occurrence, probably because it burrows in the
ground in winter, and is only above ground at the close of the year :
it is found at Trowbridge and Devizes, indeed the winter before
last some gardener here made a little pocket money by selling all
he found at six-pence a piece; there need be little doubt that those
who would hunt for them would very easily secure numbers,
although they are considered scarce.

A singular habit of this slug is recorded in Reeve’s “ Mollusks,”
page 31; he obtained the information from M. Gassies, ‘ When
a Testacella has discovered the prey on which it wishes to make a
repast, it moves stealthily to one side of the worm, with an in-
difference so complete that one would have supposed it had not ob-
served it or disdained it; but suddenly it turns and whilst the
worm is twisting to the right and to the left, it lifts its head, with-
draws its tentacles, dilates enormously its mouth, and throws itself
upon its prey, enfixing it by a kind of suction. Contortions of the
worm are necessarily the result of the wounds from the palate
spines; it wrestles, but in vain: retained by a multitude of barbs,
its movements only serve to engage it more and hasten its passage
into the stomach of its voracious enemy.

To conclude the paper : it will be noticed that there has been an
omission of reference to geological specimens, or those which are now
semi-fossilized compared with the present shells, the subject would
have been very interesting but rather impracticable; but do let me
ask some one to pursue the study of shells for Wilts: the great
additions to health which a definite object gives when taking a

96 On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wiits.

country walk; the intense amusement afforded by watching fresh-
water snails in an aquarium, or land shells in a vivarium; the
delight that is given by examining the parts of snails and slugs
bodies under a good microscope; combined with the far higher
advantage of seeing the handiwork of God in his wonders, not
only of redemption but of nature as well, raise the thoughts, elevate
the feelings, and make man share somewhat the sensations of
angels themselves, yes even of God who rejoices in his works.
“ All things were made by him, by him all things consist.”

J. E. Vuze.

[ Note.

A list of the Land and Fresh-water Shells already known to occur in Wilt-
shire, and the localities where they have been found, will be printed in a future
number of the Magazine. Meanwhile, for futher information on the general
subject of Land and Fresh-water Shells, their habits, their abodes, their classi-
fication, and their place in the scale of animated nature, the enquirer cannot
do better than consult Dr. Gray’s edition of Turton’s ‘‘ Manual of the Land and
Fresh-water Shells of the British Islands,’ or Mr. Reeve’s work on the same
subject.—A. C. 8.]

H. BULL, Printer and Publisher, Devizes.

Ea
wt ae

>»

AUBREY’S WILTSHIRE COLLECTIONS
AND THE SATURDAY REVIEW.

To the Members of the Wiltshire Archeological Society.

A few days ago, just as I was leaving home on my way to the Continent, I
received a copy of the Saturday Review of October 8th, containing an Article
upon Aubrey’s Wiltshire Collections, the volume edited some time ago by myself
and printed at the expense of our Archwological Society.

If you have seen the Review you will no doubt have been as I was, considerably
astonished at the language of the Reviewer: not being quite able to understand
what in the world we had done to provoke so many unjust and ill-tempered
remarks, I can only explain it to myself in this way. The Saturday Review
is, (I am told, for I never read it) in the constant habit of abusing things and
people that are decent and respectable. ‘

Setting aside all the petty cavilling, all the sneers and personalities, all the
learned information about Robert the Consul and a deal of miscellaneous frivolity
collected together to make up a dish; and weighing what remains as the real
and proper substance of an article calling itself a review of a work on Wiltshire,
I must say that it appears to me a very feeble performance indeed. For it
comes to this.

Here is a large volume relating to the County History of Wiltshire, which a
Reviewer has taken upon himself to condemn, and yet, please to mark well the
fact, he has not been able to lay his finger upon one single error of any import-
ance from beginning to end. In a work of very great labour, upon a subject
on which it is most difficult to obtain correct information, he has not produced
_ asingle mis-statement, to justify his condemnation. That is my simple answer
tohis censure. No doubt he would have done so if he could; but the truth is,
he does not know anything about the matter. Through a cloud of rather pre-
tentious and dictatorial words, it is very easy for any one who knows anything
about Wiltshire History, to see that the Reviewer is as innocent as a child, of
any real knowledge of the book which he would dispose of in so summary a
way.

I do not blame him, still less do I use uncourteous words to him, for not
_ knowing everything, but I simply say that he is quite out of his element in the
present case, because he knows nothing about Wiltshire County History, nothing
about John Aubrey, and nothing about myself.

If he had known only a little about Wiltshire County History, he could not
have failed to see that the volume before him contains in the Notes a mass of
new information, and that the principal object of the Notes was to supply, in as
condensed a form as I could put it, manorial history that had never been known
before. I never considered myself qualified to undertake a County History, but
haying taken great pains to collect materials towards one, I thought this a fair
opportunity of recording the substance of what I had collected. The Reviewer
is pleased to sneer at my Notes as being too long. I must tell him this the
gentlemen of the county are continually complaining to me that they are not
long enough. Those gentlemen are much better judges of the matter than the

2 Aubrey’s Wiltshire Collections and the Saturday Review.

Reviewer, because they know the defects of our County History, whilst he does
not. He does not know what is new from what is old, and I must therefore
really declare his opinion upon the subject to be not worth a straw.

If he had known, even a little about John Aubrey, of what small value
Aubrey’s memoranda by themselves would have been, from the crude and dis-
jointed condition in which he left them; if he had known that in order
sometimes to make Aubrey’s memoranda intelligible at all, a connected manorial
history of considerable length was absolutely necessary: if he had ever carefully
examined Aubrey’s original Manuscript, and had compared it with the volume
before his eyes; if he had known that Aubrey himself had left on record his
earnest hope ‘‘that his memoranda might some day fall into the hands of an
antiquary who would make a handsome volume of them;” the Reviewer would
never have been guilty of the truly laughable absurdity of saying that I ‘‘ do
not appreciate Aubrey!” If I do not, I should be glad to know who does ?
1 am sure it is not the Reviewer.

If he had known a little, ever so little, about myself, he would not have
attributed to me as he so impertinently does, a tone which I never in my life
assumed, and motives which I never for a moment entertained. He would not
have charged me 'with vanity and self-glorification, a charge which I leave to
be thrown back upon him with derision, by all who know me in the county of
Wilts.

So then we have a writer, knowing nothing either of Wiltshire History, or
of Aubrey, or me, putting himself forward as a judge of this book! The result
is exactly what might be expected. ‘‘ When you have no case, abuse the
attorney on the opposite side.” Not being able to find, or even to pick, a hole
of the slightest importance in the book itself, he has recourse to the very
gentlemanlike alternative of abusing me. But what J have ever said, written
or done, to provoke this attack, I am really quite at a loss to imagine.

However, he shall have my answer upon this point: but it will not be in his
own vein. I belong, he says, to an old-fashioned school, which may be true
enough, and any such remark I can assure him would be taken by me with
perfect good humour. But there is something in the school to which I belong,
which I do not find in that of which he no doubt considers himself a leading
ornament. It has always been my habit to express my own opinion modestly.
I have written a good deal on subjects connected with families and individuals,
but I never used an expression that (so far as I am aware) ever gave, or could
give, offence to any one. If I ever happened to possess a fragment of informa-
tion not found out by any one else, I never gave myself any airs upon the occasion,
much less did I ever charge anyone with stupid and obstinate ignorance. This
may be old-fashioned. It is certainly not the fashion of the Saturday Reviewer;
but he must excuse me if in spite of the great provocation he has given me to
depart from it, I continue to prefer my fashion to his own.

Very simply therefore do I tell him, that if instead of lecturing me about the
date of an old Saxon king or that of the dissolution of a monastery in Leicester-
shire, he had himself paid attention to a much more modern date, viz., that of
the very book which he was reviewing, he would have escaped two great
blunders into one of which, I think, and the other, I am certain, he has fallen.

1. He has pronounced this whole volume ‘‘a thorough mistake.” But he

Aubrey’s Wiltshire Collections and the Saturday Review. 3

cannot be aware that though very recently issued to the Public, the volume was
printed in 1862, and has been for more than two years widely circulated in the
County of Wilts. He does not know that it has been most favourably received,
and that instead of being a ‘‘ thorough mistake,” it has been (though I am com-
pelled to say so myself) a ‘‘ thorough success!” His criticism therefore comes
too late, and he will find himself in a glorious minority. Knowing absolutely
nothing about the matter, he has, with no little strut and pomposity, commanded

the stable-door to be shut, whilst the steed has been out and away over the

fields for more than two years! That I think he will find to be his first blunder
from not observing the date of the book.

2. His second is one of much greater importance as affecting me personally:
and much as I wish to controul my feelings, I can with difficulty repress a
rising indignation as I approach it.

In the Saturday Review, which of course has a very wide circulation and lies
upon the tables of all literary societies, he, concealing his own name, has taken
the extreme liberty of placarding me, as a person not only ignorant, but stupidly
and obstinately ignorant. ‘‘ Crassa ignorantia” is charged upon me: of which
his explanation is, that in a certain instance I have gone wilfully out of my way
to mislead the public of Wiltshire, after I had received more correct information.
A statement more injurious to a man’s literary reputation however humble that
may be, could not be made. This statement has now gone all over the country :
it has gone where I have no means of making known, as I now do to you, that
it is a pure unmitigated falsehood. The case is this.

Leland the Antiquary had mentioned a large square tower as standing at the
west end of Malmesbury Abbey Church. In one of my notes upon Aubrey I
happened to say that it was not very clear where this tower could have stood,
and that perhaps Leland had made some mistake. Most persons who should
visit the ruins would probably say the same thing: because there are none of
the usual indications of a tower rising, as towers usually do, from the ground.
Mr, Britton never detected any. Moffat the historian of Malmesbury does not
mention them, nor indeed are there any remains either of piers or other solid
masonry such as in ordinary cases supported towers. It was therefore no very
remarkable iguorance in me not to have found them, and the doubt I had sug-
gested, was after all not very peremptorily expressed.

But it so happened that at a Meeting of the Wiltshire Archwological Society
held at Malmesbury in 1862, Mr. E. A. Freeman, whose knowledge of Archi-
tecture is very superior to my own, pointed out where this Tower had been.
There are a few stones high up near the top of the ruined wall, which he ex-
plained to have been part of an arch, on which arch the tower had been built:
but he added that it was a most audacious and foolhardy experiment, a very
singular and exceptional case. This was a further reason why less accomplished
antiquarians might well be excused for not having detected it. I certainly was
not aware of it until I heard Mr. Freeman give his explanation on the spot.

But now comes this Reviewer, telling all the world that I, after I had Mr.
Freeman’s explanation on the spot, persisted in my. ignorance, and in defiance
of Mr. Freeman’s explanation, persisted in wilfully misleading the public of
Wiltshire, by continuing to assert that there had been no tower.

Now then for the facts. The Meeting at Malmesbury was held on the Sth

4 Aubrey’s Wiltshire Collections and the Saturday Review.

August, 1862, exactly six months after the Aubrey volume had been printed
and circulated. It bears at the end of the Preface, if the Reviewer had only
read so far, the date of February, 1862. I need therefore say no more than that it
was simply impossible for me to be defying in February an explanation which I
did not hear until August following. The Reviewer's statement is accordingly
a pure falsehood.

So far from ever wishing to act in such a manner as this insolent Reviewer
attributes to me, I was the very person who, immediately after the Meeting at
Malmesbury asked Mr. Freeman to allow his explanation to be printed in the
Wiltshire Magazine ; which was accordingly done.

Now, Mr. E. A, Freeman is himself, I believe, an occasional writer in the
Saturday Review. Perhaps if this statement should meet his eye, he will have
the goodness to tell his colleague in that establishment, (the writer who slanders
me,) that I look upon his conduct as very mean and cowardly. It is only the
bully that hides his face and stabs in the dark. If the Reviewer ever again
has occasion to find fault with me for anything I have written about the County
of Wilts, let him put his name to what he writes, and then perhaps he will be
more careful in his writing, and not be doing his best to hurt the reputation of
others by downright falsehoods.

As to the rest of this Review of Aubrey’s Wiltshire, it is really such a com-
plete misunderstanding of the real character of the Book itself, and of me its
Editor, that I am quite at ease as to the reception it will meet with in the County
of Wilts. He may depend upon it, that if there is any ‘‘thorough mistake” in
the matter, it is he who has made it, and not your humble servant,

J, E, JACKSON,
London, October 20th, 1864. .

H. BULL, Printer and Publisher, Devizes.

WILTSHIRE
— Meebeolageal ont Batural Wrstory
q MAGAZINE,

No. XXVI. AUGUST, 1865. Vor. IX.
Contents,
; PAGE
VESTIGES OF THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF WILTSHIRE: By the Rey.
A. C. Smith, Honorary Secretary. (with 4 plates).............. 97-136

Tue MERCHANTS OF THE STAPLE, OR THE WOOL TRADE IN ENGLAND
IN THE OLDEN True: By the Rey. W. H. Jones, M.A. .. ....... 137-159
Norrs on THE Fiona or Srupury Hitt: By J. Buckman, Esq. 5

F.L.S., F.G.8., &c., Professor of Botany and Geology............ 159-162
ON THE SrRvcTURE or THE Composirm: By Thomas Bruges Flower,
Bag. M.R.C.S., F.LiS., Go, Go. 1.0. eens conn es wp ecencenees 162-166

a _ Tur Grotoey ortur Berxs & Hants Exrenston, & MaRLBorover.
Rarmways: By T. Codrington, Esq., F.G.S. (with 9 wood cuts.) 167-193
On THe EArty Lire or Sir Tuomas Lawrence, P.R.A.: By Mr.

T. B. Smith (with a Photolithographic plate)............+--+..4. 194-205
LE ae aR aed EE NES Eee SEE 205-208
Qurry—Famity or SHuUTER of WINTERBOURNE GUNNEB......... 208

MMMMATEONE 5.0 be ee sera painive ees eter sees ePeeeeeet eer neenen 209
EMRE rere neler, sy § 0 nie oe vice Vir, othis,s/s's alm sichoveysis scale aware 210
ILLUSTRATIONS.

er A AMTETOUNS |, os dase dies se ccabecuswece @ ~») 138
em SOT MO tay gs lool 5. as deaminase a cere ndideclereuke a
3. Sepulchral PRISE Ss os ous gsm hin mig gone saa Mee CMW he 133
MUM TICORINOD. GO i. iced swine Sakels Ot os ve eee eae 115
' 6. Fossil Sponge from Savernake ............. fats caress 170
6. Section of Green-sand and Chalk at Stert............ 173
7. Section of Peat-Bed near Stert..........- slater shoei ek 175
Mee Onalk POcten Ab DIVO-NAM ls. oc cs. sinew als sia seele alesse 177
9. Section near Wootton Rivers ...............eeeeees 178
10. Section near Warnhams......., Sais Bowie Sah talc’ 179
11. Ditto Mra ie Sea inion ws aro wiehsraiarevouniete te) S'la
12. Ditto CORE 126 EES Crain ner ee Dee cere rece 180
13. General Section of the Vale of Pewsey .............. 186
14. Photolithographicengravingfrom adrawing by Lawrence 194
DEVIZES:
Henzy Bort, Sarnt Jonn STREET.
LONDON:

y Bu & Dapy, 186, Fuser Srrezr; J. R. Surrn, 36, Sono Square,

ae

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es aoe
ike pee me “

tA

Serer

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE

‘C MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS.”—Ovid.

VESTIGES OF THE

Carliest Anhabitants of Wiltshire.

By the Rey. A. C. SmrtH.
Read before the Society during the Annual Meeting at Devizes, August 19th, 1863.

‘“‘ Hark, the wild tale of true Cimmerian horde.” *

N dealing with a question, confessedly involved in mystery,

I must ask the indulgence of the members of this Society,

while I grope my way in the dark; and with but a very feeble ray
of light to guide me, content myself with putting before them a
dim outline seen through the haze of distant ages. The details are

all involved in obscurity, for the background is shrouded in im-

penetrable gloom :2 still, like the well-known pictures of our
famous Turner, while to the careless and superficial observer, all is
mist and confusion, to him who carefully and diligently scrutinizes,

and with earnest gaze peers into the mist, figures more or less
distinct loom out of the darkness, till what appeared almost a blank

before gradually assumes shape and colour, and at length presents
no ill-defined picture before him.

Now in seeking materials for the history of past ages, the histo-

subject, wherein I am wholly incompetent to judge.

* Bode’s Ballads from Herodotus, p. 7.
2 «Cimmerian darkness.” Homer’s Odyssey, xi., 13—22.
_ VOL. IX.—NO. XXVI. I

rian will generally be satisfied to cull his information from the
written records of contemporary or subsequent times; but in dealing,

1 While treating of the first inhabitants of Wiltshire, I beg once for all to
disclaim all intention of meddling with the question now so eagerly discussed by
geologists, on the Antiquity of Man, and to decline giving any opinion on a

98 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wittshire,

as we are, with such remote ages, we must not expect a mass of
documentary evidence, but be content to glean from every available
source.! And here an unwritten indeed, but most invaluable record is
supplied in the relics of military, social, and domestic life, which have
been preserved to us in considerable abundance :? and these, I make
bold to say, are for the most part most unexceptionable guides,
speaking with no faltering accent, appealing to every man’s senses,
most reliable, and beyond suspicion of error, as unpolluted by
transcriber or commentator; in short, the most credible and unsus-
pected witnesses we could desire. And these eloquent records
of the earliest inhabitants of Britain abound on our Downs of
Wiltshire more perhaps than in any other locality in the whole
country. It is from this source, as well as from the few and
scattered hints of the earliest classical authors, that we are enabled
to fill in the outline of our most ancient predecessors here.

Who those earliest ancestors of ours were, whence they came,
how they lived, and what were their habits and customs, and what
their appearance, we will now proceed to enquire: first premising,
that in treating of the earliest inhabitants of our county, it is
manifestly impossible to particularize, and therefore their description
will necessarily apply equally well to the whole scanty population
of the island. I would also observe at the outset, that it is useless
to attempt to define accurately the exact epoch of the colonizing
of this country, having ro sure data to guide us; but allowing a
wide margin of some centuries on either side, we shall not (I think)
be very far wrong, if we regard a thousand years before Christ as

1 As the subject matter of this paper comprizes many points of dispute among
archeologists, I have thought it advisable to give in the foot notes very copious
references to the authors whom I quote. I have also taken pains to compare
the habits of other early races whose history has been in any way preserved ; as
well as to point out the customs of modern uncivilized nations, where their
practices resemble those of the early Britons. In preparing the illustrations,
I have largely availed myself of the plates in Sir Richard Hoare’s Ancient
Wilts; and thus the specimens figured from that work, as well as those taken
from the originals are, without exception, the produce of our own county.

2Sir Richard Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, passim. The English at Home, by
Alphonse Esquiros, 1861.

By the Rev. A. OC. Smith. 99

about the period of its occupation by its first inhabitants.’

Whoever were the first colonists of Britain, I make no doubt
that they came immediately from the coast of Gaul;? for as the
tide of emigration set with marvellous regularity from east to
west,’ and as the prolific regions of Asia, sent wave after wave of
their teeming multitudes to occupy the comparatively unpeopled
forests and plains of Germany and Gaul, it is obvious that every
fresh influx had the effect of pushing on the waves in advance,
until the utmost verge of the continent was reached, and then some
more adventurous than the rest boldly crossed the channel,’ and
occupied such portions of this island as seemed most suited to their
requirements. Once landed on the coasts of Britain, we may assume,
that like the pioneers of civilization in the backwoods of America
at this day, some more enterprising than the rest would gradually
advance more and more into the interior, as want of room nearer the
coast, and more abundant pasturage for their cattle, or fresh hunt-
ing grounds tempted them to go forwards: and thus we may
believe did the first inhabitants of our county establish themselves
here.

f 1§ome writers think that the Phenicians discovered the 8.W. coasts of
Britain before the Trojan war, and not long after it was first inhabited by
_ eolonies from the continent of Gaul. [Henry’s History of England, vol. ii.,
: cap. vi., p. 195.] Bochart says the Phoenicians discovered the Cassiterides or
Scilly Islands B.C. 904. [Bochart’s Canaan, 1. i.,34,] The monkish historian,
Richard of Cirencester, to whom we are indebted for many interesting particulars
_ respecting the early history of our island, but on the accuracy of whose infor-
mation we must not lay too much stress, places the era of the colonization of
Britain at B.C. 1000. [Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, i., 12.]

* Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., chap. 3, sect.i., p. 237. Camden’s
Britannia, p. 11. Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, i., 9. Speed’s Historie of
Great Britaine, p. 12.

3 Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. i., p. 154, vol. iii., 11, 186.

4« Western Asia the cradle of the human race.” Rawlinson’s Herodotus,
yol, i., p. 643, vol, iii., 12. See too the ‘‘Five Ancient Monarchies,” by the
same author, vol. ii., p. 508. Archeological Journal, vol. i., p. 369.

5 Compare the colonization of Sicily by the Siculi, as related by Thucydides
‘Book vi., chap. 2]. They passed over on rafts from Italy, (so that most trust-
worthy historian tells us,) having watched the opportunity afforded by a brisk
and favourable wind.

r2

100 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

It is time to ask who these colonists were, and what was their
origin? Since we have no certain proof to rely upon, the field
is open to conjecture, and accordingly there has been no smail
diversity of opinion on the point.! Some affirming that the
Pheenicians, others inclining to the Scythians,? others again to the
Phrygians,? and some even declaring that the Trojans* were the
first colonizers of Britain. But I believe that those most con-
versant with the subject are now pretty well agreed that it is to
some of the tribes of the vast Celtic nation, which peopled so large
a portion of Europe® as well as Asia, that we are indebted, as in
all probability, our first ancestors in this country. I say, in all
probability, because groping as we are in the dusk, with so little
light to guide us, it would be presumptuous to assert that there
were no pre-Celtic inhabitants here:* and who shall venture to

1The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says “‘ the first inhabitants of this island came
from Armenia, and first settled in the South of Britain.”

Holinshed says ‘‘The Samothesans come to Britain anno mundi 1910.
[ Chronicles, p. 3.]

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 1.

2Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 141.
3 Carte’s History of England, p. 34.

4 Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Benedictine monk, who wrote the History of
England in Latin, but whose history is fictitious, says that Brutus, grandson of
AEneas, brought a colony of Trojans to Britain B.C. 1108: and then from the
name of the Trojan prince Brutus is derived the word Britain. [Rapin’s History
of England, vol. i., p. 5. Camden’s Britannia, p. 4—8. Carte’s History of
England, p. 75.]

5 Herodotus, lib. ii., cap. 33.

6 Humes’ History of England, chap. i.

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 8.
Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 1.
Carte’s History of England, p. 7.

Rapin’s History of England, vol. i., p. 5.
Keithley’s History of Rome, p. 116.

Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 7.

7 Cesar testified that ‘‘ by all the enquiry he could make, he found no more
than this, that the inland parts of Britain were inhabited by those who, they
said, were born in the yery island, and the maritime coasts by such as from out
of Belgium passed over thither. [Bell: Gall: yv., 12.] And Tacitus declared
that what manner of men the first inhabitants of Britain were, born in the
land, or brought in, as among barbarous people it is not certainly known.
[Camden’s Britannia, p. 6.]

The Brigantes are by some thought to have been seated in this island prior to

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 101

affirm decisively, that when those first adventurers landed, they
may not have found other tribes already established, the veritable
aborigines of Britain; perhaps styling themselves “indigenous ”
like their Latin, or priding themselves on being “‘ Autochthones ”
(sprung from the soil) like their Greek contemporaries:! but in

the arrival of the Celts, and to have been descended from the ancient Phrygians,
who were some of the first inhabitants of Europe. It is certain that they oc-
eupied Britain in very early times, and that they esteemed themselves the
aborigines or first inhabitants of it. [Henry’s History of England, vol. i.,
p- 276.]

‘¢ Perhaps tens of centuries before the Roman legions crossed the Channel,
while the Egyptians were accumulating those imperishable stone barrows, the
Pyramids; when Abraham lived, and the cities of the plain stood; there existed
in Britain a population, possibly Pre-Celtic, at all events having habits corres-
ponding with those which were universally disseminated by the primitive races
in their radiations from the trans-Himalayan cradle of the species.” [Ten years
digging in Celtic and Saxon grave-hills in the Counties of Derby, Stafford and
York, from 1848 to 1858, by Thomas Bateman. London 1861, page 2., intro-
duction. ]

‘*Tt is possible that a primeval people represented at present by the Basques
and the Fins wandered in pastoral tribes over all Europe, while Kelt and Ger-
man were still east of the Volga.” [Professor Pearson’s Early and Middle
Ages of England, p. 1.]

F 1 Prichard says that among the Ancient Greeks and Romans it seems to have
__ been the universal opinion that every country had its ‘‘ Autochthones” or in-
digenous stock of inhabitants; an hypothesis very easy to adopt, which would
afford a ready solution to many difficulties, and remove at once from Ethnolo-
gists a vast amount of perplexity and doubt. [Researches into the Physical
History of Mankind, vol. i., 2, ii., 38.]
Rollins’ Ancient History, vol. ii., p. 160.
q Keithley’s Greece, chap. ii., p. 8.
It was the favorite boast of Athens that her inhabitants were sprung from the
soil: hence the adoption of the symbol of the grasshopper. [Thucyd:i., 6, ii., 36,
vi, 2. Herod: vii., 161. Aristoph: Eq: 1221, Nub: 955.] Thus too Egypt
[Herodotus ii., 2, 142. Plato Timeeus 22 B.] thinking it glorious to lose itself
in an abyss of infinite ages, which seemed to carry its pretensions backward to
eternity, claimed to reckon back its ancestors through 20,000 years. [Rollins’
_ Ane: Hist: i., 47, 64.] But the Egyptian numbers were moderate compared
_ with those of some other nations; the Babylonians counted 468,000 years from
_ the first king Alorus to the Conquest by Cyrus. [Beros: ap: Euseb: Chron: i.,
_ pp. 5—18.] And the Indians trace back their history for a still longer period.
_ [Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. ii., p. 2, 223, also Appendix to Book ii.,
_ p. 279, 282.] While in modern days China puts forth similar pretensions.
‘These figures however, which chronologers have hitherto ridiculed, are be-
_ ginning to be regarded with seriousness since the recent discoveries and calcula-
__ tions of some of our modern geologists. [See Sir C. Lyell’s Antiquity of Man.]

a

102 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

reality offshoots from some other race at a greater or less distance
of time from the general dispersion. Still of such tribes we know
nothing; and as they have left no mark behind them, no distinctive

trace of any occupancy previous to that of the Celts, we may.

reasonably conclude that the latter were (as I said before) the first
colonizers of this country; and they may therefore perhaps under
proper restrictions be termed the “aborigines” of Britain: at any
rate they seem to have been the substratum of the population of
this island.

And now it will be proper to enquire who were these Celts, and
whence did they come? for though crossing over immediately from
Gaul, we are not to suppose that they were the indigenous inhabit-
ants of that country. I am aware that I am treading on uncertain
ground, and that the position I advance may by some be thought
to be untenable, still after duly weighing all that has been put
forward, I incline to. the opinion that the Cymry, Cimbri! or

' Strabo lib: vii., 293, ‘uno prius nomine, omnes vel Scythe vel nomades (ut
ab Homero) appellabantur; ac postea temporis, cognitis regionibus occiduis,
Celt, Iberi, aut mixto nomine Celtiberi ac Celto-Scythce dici cceperunt.’’
Diodorus Siculus lib: v., ¢. ix., and Plutarch in his life of Marius identifies
the Kimbri with the Kimmerii. Cesar, (Comment de Bell: Gall: lib. i.. 1)
says ‘‘ qui ipsorum lingua Celte, nostra Galli appellantur.” [See note to Cesar
i., p. 22, vol. viii. of Delphin Classics,] Appian also (de bell: civ: c¢. ii., s. 17)
and Tacitus (Agricola c. 11) believed the Britons without exception to be Keltic,
and though it is true that the Romans were no philologists, they could hardly
be mistaken in supposing that their interpreters employed only one language in
conversing with Gauls and Britons. [Professor Pearson’s Early and Middle Ages
of England, p. 5.] ‘‘The Celts are the same as the Cymbri or Cymmerians,
who came from the north of the Danube and Euxine, as mentioned in Herodotus
iv., 49.” [The Celtic Druids, by Godfrey Higgins, p. 53. ]

“The English at Home,” by Alphonse Esquiros.

The Monthly Packet, xviii., 318.

Camden’s Britannia p. 10.

Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, i., 7.

Speed’s Historie of Great Britain p. 8.

The Welsh ‘lriads quoted in Sharon Turner’s History of England, yol. i.,
p- 23. These Welsh Triads are collections of historical facts: they are three
events coupled together that were thought by the collector to have some mutual
analogy. It is the strange form into which their bards or ancient writers chose
to arrange the early circumstances of their history. One of the most complete,
series of these Triads,has been printed in the Archeology of Wales, vol. ii.,
pp. 97—78.

———<— - ae

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 103

Cimmerians, the Gauls, and the Celts, were all tribes of the same
nation; Nomadic tribes to a great extent, which will account for
their readiness to migrate: oftentimes at war with one another,
but none the less on that account sprung from the same origin ;
and all issuing at various periods from that prolific hive, the shores
of the Caspian! which afterwards sent forth the no less encroaching
hordes of Scythians, and in still later times precipitated upon
Europe the ravaging Goths and the Huns. These same Cimmerians
or Celts were also sometimes called ‘‘ Gomerians,” ? as sprung from
Japhet’s son, Gomer, mentioned in the book of Genesis:* and
indeed we find the prophet Ezekiel,* writing at about the period of
their last migrations, speaking of Gomer as a nation.

Now Herodotus® tells us that the Cimmerians dwelt on the
north of the Danube and the Euxine, and that they were driven
out from their ancient settlements by the Scythians, who invaded
and then occupied their country: we learn that while some fled

Rawlinson speaks of a Seythic population spread over the whole of Western
Asia, using the same type of language; and points out Armenia as the spot
whence three several lines of Indo-European migration appear to have issued:
one stream advancing to the N.W., another to the S.W., another to the E.
[ Herod: vol. i., pp. 644—647. See also his whole Essay (xi.) on the Ethnic
affinities of the nations of Western Asia, pp. 642—679, and vol. ii., p. 489.]

The first mention of Cimmerians in the Assyrian Inscriptions refers to the
reign of Esar-haddon, who is stated to have received the submission of Tiuspa
“the Cimmerian” about B.C. 675. Herodotus places the great Cimmerian in-
vasion of Asia in the reign of Ardys the Lydian, which (according to him) was
from B.C. 686 to B.C. 637. [Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, yol. ii., p. 468,
487.] Prichard’s Celtic Nations. p. 142.

1 The Celts were a colony who escaped the effects of the deluge, on the borders
of the Caspian. [The Celtic Druids, by Godfrey Higgins, p. xevi., 62, 70.]

Cartes’ History of England, p. 7.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 23.

The Ancient British Triads contain a traditionary account of the first discovery
of Britain, then an uncultivated desert, by a certain people, natives of a country
lying near Constantinople.

2 Camden’s Brittania, p. 10.

Tyrrell’s History of England, p. 4.
Higgin’s Celtic Druids, p. 53.
5 Genesis x., 2, 3. 4 Ezekiel xxxviii, 6.

5 Herodotus i., 16, iv., 11.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 27.
Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. i., p. 371.

104 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

westwards,! considerably earlier, the last remnants of the tribe
followed in the track of the first migrants about B.C. 650: and it
seems that they gradually advanced onwards through the central
and western countries of Europe,” finding those vast districts either

1 Niebuhr is undoubtedly right, when he says ‘all the wandering tribes which
have successively occupied Scythia, when overpowered by new swarms from the
East, have retired to the open country to the West, and towards the Danube:
there is every reason to believe that the mass of the Cimmerian nation was driven
westwards.” (Scythia, p. 50, E.T.] The Cimmerians who fled eastwards must
have been a mere section, not the great body of the nation. [Rawlinson Herod:
vol. iii., 11. See also in the same vol. pp. 183—190. Appendix to Book iv.,
Essay i., ‘‘On the Cimmerians of Herodotus, and the migrations of the Cymric
Race.”

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 8.

2The very interesting discovery of late years of the remains of habitations,
supported on piles, on the lakes of Central Europe, particularly those of Switzer-
land, and proved to be of very high antiquity, from the rude and coarse pottery
and the implements of stone and bone accompanying them, has led to much
speculation as to the race which founded them; but antiquaries are agreed that
they are among the most primitive remains in Europe, and may probably be
attributed to the pre-Celtic population which occupied the lakes for security at
the time when the Celts began to press upon them. [Compare Herodotus’
account of the inhabitants of lake Prasias book y., chap. 16, and see Rawlinson’s
note in loco, vol. iii. p. 226, 544. Also M. Troyons ‘ Habitations lacustres,”
and his letter to M. Pictet, in the Bibliothéque universelle de Genévye, Mai,
1857, and an elaborate article in the Mittheilungen der Antiquarischen Gesell-
schaft in Zurich for 1854, by Dr. Ferdinand Keller. Compare also Die Pfalbau-
Alter-thiimer von Moosedorf im Kanton Bern, by M. M. Yahn and Uhlmann,
published in 1857.] For an admirable account of these Swiss lake dwellings
built on piles, and the rude pottery, stone celts, axes, hammers, and other
instruments discovered among the piles, see Sir Charles Lyell’s Antiquity of
Man p. 17. Also Natural History Review Jan. 9th, 1862. And for the Irish
lake dwellings or ‘‘ Crannoges,” wherein were found canoes hollowed out of a
single tree, imbedded deep in peat and moss, together with sundry ornaments of
cannel coal; see Archeological Journal, vol. iii. p. 44. Also Antiquity of Man,
p- 29. See also chap. ii. pp. 11-—17, for a concise account of the famous Danish
Kjokken-Médding, or kitchen refuse heaps, of the aboriginal hunters and fishers.
These heaps contain shells of the oyster, cockle and other mollusks, bones of
various quadrupeds, birds and fish: flint knives, hatchets, and other instruments
of stone, horn, wood and bone, with fragments of coarse pottery. The mounds are
from 8 to 10 feet high, and some of them are 1000 feet long and 150 feet wide.
they are on the shores of most of the Danish islands, about 10 feet above the
level of the sea, For an exellent account of the researches of the Danish
Naturalists and Antiquaries drawn up by the able Swiss Geologist M. A. Morlot,
see the Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sci. Nat. t. vi. Lansanne 1860.
Also an able paper by Mr. John Lubbock in the Natural History Review, Oct.,

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 105

altogether uninhabited, or else very thinly peopled by a feeble and
scattered race. Here then the Cimmerii, or Cymry, or Celtic
hordes generally, (for they are all in reality identical) settled, and
spread themselves over central Europe; in their turn driving the
inhabitants they dispossessed towards the north; and as from time
to time a fresh impulsion from the East propelled them more and
more .westwards, they soon came to occupy the remote regions of
Gaul and finally Britain.!

Corroborative of the above statement of the origin and migration
of the Celts, and that too as supporting other evidence, by no
means to be neglected, is tradition: and while on the one hand
tradition is not favourable to the hypothesis of a primitive family
of mankind settled in Britain prior to the arrival of the Celts,?
that nation had an unvarying tradition that they came from the
East :* and it is a fact, concerning which there can be no question,
that one of the main divisions of the Celtic people has always
borne the name of Cymry as its special national designation.

Then with regard to the language of the Celts, it has been proved
that traces of Sanskrit * are to be found in it; while other philolo-
gists assert that the Hebrew and Celtic® tongues are very nearly

1861, p. 489, describing the results of a recent visit to Denmark made by him
in company with Messrs Busk Prestwich and Galton. ‘ At the present day in
‘Tierra del Fuego and the adjoining islands are similar refuse heaps of the
modern inhabitants, in every sheltered cove where the wigwams are placed : they
are from 6 to 10 feet high, and from 20 to 50 yards in length, and contain stone
tools, flint knives, arrow heads and spears, such as are in use at this day
amongst the savages of Polynesia, Australia, Northernmost America, and Arctic
Asia.” [Extract of a letter to the Times from R. Fitzroy, April, 1863.]

1Compare Thucydides account of the first colonization of Greece, book i.
chap. 2.

ae

2¢¢The English at Home,” by Alphonse Esquiros, 1861.
a 8 Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. iii., p. 186.
4 Higgins’ Celtic Druids, p. 58.

eo ‘“‘The English at Home,” by Alphonse Esquiros.

é- 5 Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. ii, p. 280.

| Higgins’ Celtic Druids, p. 62. :
_ _ 8Jn many parts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the mass of the population

_ is still mainly or entirely Celtic. Four Celtic dialects, (the Manx, the Gaelic,
3 - the Exse, and the Welsh,) are spoken in our country ; and the pure Celtic type

106 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

related: but without going farther into the question, it is unde-
niable that enough affinity exists between the Celtic languages and
those of the East, to attest their common oriental origin.

One more proof of an early connection between the first inhabit-
ants of Britain and other tribes, scattered over great portions of
Europe and Asia, is an identity, or at any rate great similarity of
customs which they held in common:? so that, while diverging
from a common centre, they naturally in course of ages differed
widely from one another in many of their habits and manners,
they yet retained enough, whether with regard to war, religion,
domestic life or sepulture, to prove that they all sprang from the
same stock, and had retained the same traditions.

The Celts then, now settled in Britain, were for a long period
comparatively * unknown to the more civilized parts of the world ;
for though in very early ages, those bold mariners, the Phcenician
merchants‘ are known to have passed the pillars of Hercules, and
doubling round towards the north, to have coasted up the Atlantic
till they reached the shores of Britain; yet no less cunning than
enterprising as they were, they studiously concealed from jealous
and selfish motives the discoveries which proved so lucrative ;° or

Cimbric, and the three latter the non-Cimbric branch of the nation. [Rawlin-
son’s Herodotus, iii., 191.] See too Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind,
vol. ii., p. 116. ;

1 Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. i., p. 8, and above all, the very
learned work by Dr. Pritchard on the ‘‘ Eastern origin of the Celtic Nations,
proved by a comparison of their dialects with the Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and
Teutonic Languages,” see pp. 202, 206,

2 See Rawlinson’s Herodotus, Note on book i., chap. 133, vol. i., p. 274.

3 That certain Greeks visited Britain, examined and described it in the third
century B.C., see Camden’s Britannia, p. 28. Pythias of Marseilles B.C. 330,
was the first Greek geographer who gave any account of the British Isles.
[Henry’s History of England, vol. ii., chap. 6. Prichard’s Physical History of
Mankind, vol. ii., p. 152.]

4 Cesar Bell: Gall: lib. iv. 20.

Strabo lib. iii., s.b fine.
Isaiah xxiii, 8. Ezekiel xxvii.
Herodotus, book i., cap. 163.

Rawlinson’s Herod: vol. i., p. 582, ii., 81, 502, and see in vol. iv., 241—249,
Essay on the Early Migrations of the Phenicians; see also his Ancient
Monarchies, vol. ii., p. 169, 170.

> Gladstone’s Homer and the Homeric age, vol. iii, pp. 292—4, 297, 324, 341.

———

4

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 107

if they did make mention of their distant markets, they overlaid
their accounts with such frightful pictures of the difficulties and
dangers to be encountered in those dreary latitudes, that they
repelled all other less daring adventurers, and thus the casual
mention of Britain we sometimes though rarely meet with in the
earliest Greek and Latin authors, almost always contains a descrip-
tion or an epithet attached to our island, little flattering to our
national vanity,! such as “ barbarous,” “ inhospitable,” “ cruel,”
“ dark,’’ ‘ dismal,” and the like,

But these allusions to Britain, in the earliest classical authors,
though extremely rare, are at the same time extremely valuable:
indeed, like the precious metals, they are valuable in proportion to
their rarity. I will not stop now to argue that Homer had a dim
perception of Britain, though we know that his knowledge of
general geography, beyond his own immediate locality, however
indistinct, not to say faulty, was not mere guess work, but founded
on information derived through the Pheenicians: but I would
remark in passing as an antidote to the insulting epithets alluded
to just now, that in Mr. Gladstone’s thoughtfully conceived map
of the world as imagined by Homer, (accompanying his most able
work on the Homeric age,) the Elysian fields, or the Islands of the
Blessed,? (the Paradise of the heathen world) are set down as
occupying in the mind of that chief of poets, the exact spot in
which we are so fortunate as to dwell. Homer flourished about

The geographer Strabo relates that so great was the caution in this respect,
used by the Pheenicians, that the master of one of their vessels, seeing himself
pursued by a Roman, for the purpose of discovering his place of trade, ran his
own vessel on shore; that of the Romans followed, and both were lost; but the
Phoenician was indemnified for his loss out of the public treasury, and applauded
for his discretion and courage. [Strabo, iii., 175.] Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient
Wilts, i., 10.
§Strutt’s Chronicles of England, vol. i.. p. 1.

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 11.

Tyrrell’s History of England, vol. i., p. 3.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 50.

‘Humes’ History of England, chap. i.

Horace Odes, book iii., 4, 33.

? Selden thought that our islands were the ‘‘ Fortunate Islands” of the Greeks.

_ [See Higgins’ Celtic Druids, p. 80.] Speed’s Historie of Great Britaine, p. 3.

108 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

B.C. 900: and we have farther allusions to Britain more or less
distinct by others of the earliest classical writers: viz., Hecateus,}
Herodotus,’ Aristotle, and Polybius;4 and as we advance onwards
to the Christian tra, the list of authors who touch on Britain
begins to expand, while the details given are more full and accu-
rate:° and these are the written evidences we have, (drawn from
foreign sources, when letters were unknown in Britain) of the
position this country held at that day in the eye of the then civil-
ized world, the scanty, (I allow,) but attractive materials out of
which the early history of Britain, and therefore of Wiltshire must
be gathered.

1 Hecateus, quoted by Diodorus Siculus flourished B.C. 530. In speaking of
the Hyperboreans, who were originally conjectured to inhabit the extreme north
of Europe, but were afterwards assigned a portion at the extreme west; he
describes them ‘‘ as inhabiting an island as large as Sicily, lying towards the
north, over against the country of the Celts, fertile and varied in its productions,
possessed of a beautiful climate, and enjoying two harvests a year.” [Hecat:
Abder: Fr: 2.] In this island it is not difficult to recognize our own country.
[Rawlinson’s Herod: vol. iii, 28. Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i, 156,
157.]

* Herodotus read his famous history at Athens B.C. 445. He mentions the
Cassiterides (lib. iii., 115), but he seems to have known little of them, but by
reports of a very vague character.

5 Aristotle B.C. 345, wrote that ‘‘ without the pillars of Hercules, the ocean
flows round the earth ; in this ocean are two islands, and those very large, called
Bretannic (Albion and Ierne) which lie beyond the Celti.” [Monumenta
Historica Britannica. ] -

* Polybius the historian, who accompanied Scipio, and flourished about B.C.
260, says ‘‘ of the utmost ocean, the British isles, the plenty of tin gold and sil-
ver in Spaine, old writers with different opinions have reported much,” iii. 57, 3.
[Camden’s Britannia, p. 29.]

5 In addition to those named above, the following amongst the earliest clas-
sical authors speak of Britain.

Virgil (B.C. 70) Eclogue, i., 68. Georgie, iii., 25.

Strabo (B.C. 54) iii., 125.

Diodorus Siculus (B.C. 44,) v., 21, 22, 38.

Ceesar (B.C. 44) Bell: gall: iv.

Cicero (B.C. 43) De Divin: De Natura Deorum.

Ovid (B.C. 38).

Horace (B.C. 20) Odes lib. i., 30, 35, lib. iii., 5, 3, lib. iv., 14, 48.

Pliny (A.D. 23) iv., 30, 36, vii., 57.

Pomponius Mela (A.D. 45) iii., 6.

Tacitus (A.D. 60) in Agric: c. x. Annales.

Dio Cassius (A.D 155).

a

4

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 109

Collecting then our information from these and all other available
sources, let us now suppose the Phenician mariner, visiting this
country, say B.C. 500: and let us imagine for the moment that he
penetrated thus far inland, though we are aware that he generally
confined his visits to the coast: what aspect had this country at
that period, and what appearance would these downs, and the
neighbouring vallies, and the inhabitants present ?

In the first place, though the position of the downs and vallies!
was the same as at present, the very face of the country, and con-
sequently the climate were somewhat different from what they are
now. The greater part of the land at that period, and even for
centuries afterwards, continued in its native state of heath, forest
and morass: so vast and apparently interminable were these
forests, that the whole island was said to be “ horrida silvis,” and
some of these woods were of such immense extent, as to have in a
manner covered whole districts. Other parts of Britain were full
of bogs and marshes, or covered with standing waters; and so
extensive were these tracts, that wood and water are said to have
divided the land between them. Thus, to speak generally, the
yallies and plains were all either inundated with water, or bristling
with wood; while the hills and downs alone stretched a broad and
dry expanse, inviting to the settler. Such an expanse of morass
and forest, must necessarily have had an effect on the climate;
which, though milder than that of Gaul, and the cold not so intense
(as we learn from Cesar,)* and though moderately warm in sum-
mer, and not excessively cold in winter, was much more rainy,
damp and cloudy than at present: for in proportion as the land

1 Henry’s History of England, vol. ii., chap. vii., p. 279.
? Humes History of England, chap. i.
Henry’s History of England, vol, i., 3, p. 290.
Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 67.

3 “Loca sunt temperatiora, quam in Gallia, remissioribus frigoribus.” [Czsar
Comment: de Bell: Gall: lib. v,, cap. 12.]

‘‘Celum crebris imbribus ac nebulis fedum: asperitas frigorum abest.”
[Tacitus vita Agricol: cap. xii.]

Speed’s Historie of Great Britain, p. 3.

Henry’s History of England, vol. ii., chap, vii., p. 279.

110 —-—“*Vesstiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

has been reclaimed, the woods cut down,! and the marshes and
lakes drained, the air has become more serene, and the climate
more dry and healthy.?

Such was the natural aspect of the country, and such the climate
during nearly or quite the whole period of its occupancy by the
Celts, and it is not difficult to conjecture what districts they would
select for their settlements. I believe we may assert as a general
maxim, that in almost every case, the first colonists of a country
sought for the eminences and not the bottoms, with a view to
security :? but in the case of Britain, the vallies being such as I
have described, the high grounds and more especially the downs
offered almost the only eligible sites for habitation. Sometimes
indeed the Britons seem to have preferred the skirts of the forests,
or the banks of the streams, in closer proximity to the game
which they so assiduously hunted: but for the most part they
preferred the open downs, where they could pasture their
cattle, enjoy a clearer and drier atmosphere, and guard against
surprise from the marauding attacks so common amongst no-
madic barbarians. And that they did so inhabit the downs,
even if we had no other evidence, the numererous earth-works,
barrows, dykes, enclosures, trackways, and even vestiges of
hut circles, (as I shall presently more fully show) are a sufficient
and sure proof.

But when so small a part of the country was available for habi-
tation or pasturage, it is manifest that the Celtic inhabitants of

1 Humboldt mentions three ways in which trees cool the air, viz., by cooling
shade, by evaporation, and by radiation: ‘‘forests,” he says, ‘‘ protect the
ground from the direct rays of the sun, evaporate fluids elaborated by the trees
themselves, and cool the strata of air in immediate contact with them by the
radiation of heat from their appendicular organs or leayes.”’ [Aspects of Nature,
vol. i,, p. 127, E.T. Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p, 267.

2 Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 43.

8 Gladstone’s Homer and the Homeric Age, vol. iii., p. 519, ‘‘all the Early
Greek towns were built upon an eminence.” Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. iii.,
p- 318.

4Sir R, Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 34, 84. &e., ii., 45, 106, &e. Carte,
in his History of England, p. 76, says ‘‘The gentlemen lived in the high grounds,
where they first fixed their mansions, and the common people in the lower situ-
ations, which gave food to their cattle.”

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. AT .

Britain could never have been very numerous. They must have

been few in numbers and extremely scattered at the period we are

considering, though they may have increased numerically by the
Roman invasion: still at no time could they have attained to the
“immense multitudes both of men and cattle” which Cesar and
Tacitus record,! and which, I think, we may fairly set down to the
exaggeration in which the heathen conqueror, in order to enhance
the grandeur of his own victories, seldom hesitated to indulge.?
Neither must we expect to find among those early settlers any
regularly organized form of government. They probably consisted,
(after the fashion of almost all the earliest colonists)? of free and
wandering tribes, scattered here and there, independant of one
another, and oftentimes at war with one another, as encroachment
on their respective ill-defined territories, or other supposed causes
of difference arose, very much as is the case at present among the

numerous Indian tribes of British North America.* The patriarchal

(the most ancient form of government, wherein fathers and heads
of families, were the sovereigns,) was at first the only rule they
knew :° and as in course of time alliances for mutual defence were

_ formed amongst several clans, petty kingdoms grew up under one

ruler, to which state of advancement some of them had arrived at

_ the period of the Roman conquest.

What few laws they possessed were never written, but couched
in verse and committed to memory ;® a method by no means peculiar
1 Cesar Comment: de Bell: Gall: lib. v., cap. 12.

Tacitus Annal: lib. xiv., cap. 34.
Xiphilin ex Dione in Neron.

Compare Rawlinson’s Exposure of the exaggeration of Xerxes’ forces, as

given in Herodotus (vol. iv., p. 158).

$ Herodotus, book i., chap. 125.
Cartes’ History of England, p. 76.
Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 23.
*See Four years in British Columbia and Vancouvers Island, by Commander
Mayne, 1862, chap. xi., pp. 242—305.
Tyrrell’s History of England, vol. i., pp. 16, 23.
5 Genesis, passim.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i, p. 237, ii., p. 2.
®Camden’s Britannia, p. 4.
Cartes’ History of England, p. 34.

op 8 4 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

to the ancient Britons, but practised in the infancy of their occupa-
tion in Greece, Germany, Spain, and several other countries. This
practice of composing their laws in verse and forming them into
songs was owing to that surprising love which the nations of anti-
quity bore to music and poetry: and thus they rendered their laws
more agreeable to a poetical people, and made it easier for them to
get them by heart, and retain them in their memory. For the same
reason they held their bards in the greatest honour; exempting
them from serving in war and from all taxes, and showing them
on all occasions the highest marks of respect:! wherein again we
see an identity of custom with other nations of the same period,
as recorded in the poems of Homer and others.

It is time to enquire what was the personal appearance of the
ancient Britons, and what their characteristics. We are told that
between the numerous branches of the great Celtic race, which
under different titles occupied Germany, Gaul, Spain and Britain,
there was a very close resemblance in person as well as in manners:
so that what we read of one applies in a great degree to all. They
were of a fair light complexion, with long flaxen or yellow hair,’
though in many various gradations: and they had blue eyes; of
both which national peculiarities they appear to have been not a
little vain. So far they shared in the general characteristics of

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 18.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 73.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., p. 315, ii., chap. v.

Speed’s Historie of Great Britaine, p. 21.

1 Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 21.

In Homer, throughout the poems, we see astonishing marks of reverence and
respect shown to the bards or poets. For example see Odyssey viii., 62, xiii., 27,
xxii., 330.

* Tacit: Germania, iv.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. vii.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 67.

Speed’s Historie of Great Britain, p, 21.

Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. i., p. 150.

3 Compare the pride in their long hair, of the Spartan warriors, as exemplified
before the battle of Thermopyle. [Herod: vii., 208, 209.] Pliny, iii., 20.
* © Whene’er the Spartans, one and all
For deadliest risk prepare,
Like men who hold high festival

They comb their long dark hair.”
[Bode’s Ballads from Herodotus, p. 211.]

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 113

the whole Celtic family ; but the ancient Britons were remarkable
for their high vheek bones, their broad chests, their long arms,’
and in fine, for the largeness of their bodies, and the tallness of
their stature:* they are said to have had a strange fierceness in
their looks, as they advanced to battle, which inspired terror; their
voices were loud and terrific; they were of great strength, as well
as size; very swift of foot, and excelled in all kinds of bodily exer-
cises; they were also very patient of toil, hardships and pain; in
short, they were a tall, strong, nimble, comely people.

With regard to dress, the first inhabitants of Britain were almost
or entirely without it, from ignorance of theclothingarts.* In the
coldest seasons they were partially covered with the bark and branches
of trees, and such things as they could use without art or preparation :
and a very meagre and ineffectual protection against inclement
weather it must have been. It was probably with the same view

_to supply the want of clothes, and to secure themselves from the
severest cold, that they besmeared their bodies with such things as
they found most proper to their purpose.‘ and as the people of
Britain continued much longer in this condition than many nations
on the continent, they acquired the distinctive epithet of “painted:’*

1 Pearson’s Early and Middle Ages of England, p. 8.
2 Juvenal Satire, viii., 252,

Tavit: Germania, iv.

Strabo, lib. v., p. 200.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, ii., p. 279, chap. vii.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 69.

Cartes’ History of England, p. 72.

Tyrrell’s History of England, vol. i., p. 21.

3 Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p, 117.

Rapin’s History of England, vol. i., p. 5.

Dion Cassius says ‘‘the Britons went naked and barefooted.” Tyrrell’s
History of England, vol. i., p. 21.
____ *So some of the natives of Van Diemen’s Land are described as ‘“ without
clothes, but covering their skins with dirt.” ([Prichard’s Physical History of
_ Mankind, vol. i., p. 405.] And the ferocious natives of the Andaman Islands,
_ (by some thought to be the most degraded savages on the face of the earth) are
thus described, ‘‘ they go quite naked, and daub themselves over with mud to
keep off the insects, and fill their woolly hair with red ochre or cinnabar.
[Prichard’s Physical History, vol. i., p. 471.]
_*“Coarpleis’ Britannis” says Martial, while Tertullian calls these branding or

OL. IX.—NO. XXVI. K .

114 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

hence too the name of “ Picts,” which clung to, till it finally super-
seded, the original name of a whole people.!' The herb they used
chiefly for this purpose was the g/astum or woad,? a deep dark blue,
which long continued to be the favourite colour of the nation. And
sometimes they punctured the skin with sharp needles, till it imbibed
the paint, after the manner of the modern tattoo:* while those who
would make the most elaborate toilet performed their body painting
in a more artificial manner, describing a variety of figures of beasts,
birds, trees, or herbs.4 Afterwards, as with other nations, their
first garments were of skins, and it was not till at a comparatively

enamelling marks, ‘‘Britannorum stigmata” [Camden’s Britannia, p. 31.]
Compare Herodotus’ account of the permanent dye used by the tribes of the Cas-
pian, (book i., chap. 203,) and the red paint wherewith a certain Libyan tribe
bedaubed themselves, (book iv., chap. 194,) also the practice of the Ethiopians
to paint their bodies, when they went into battle, partly with chalk and partly
with vermilion (book vii., chap 69), and that of the Mosyneeci to tattoo, and dye
their bodies with colours. [Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. iv.. p. 226.]

Cesar Comment: de Bell: Gall: v., 14.

Pliny, xxii., 1.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, yol. ii., 118.

Hume’s History of England, chap. i.

Rapin’s History of England, vol. i., p. 5,

Rollin’s Ancient History, vol. ii., p. 239.

Prichard’s Celtic Nations, p. 151—158.

2Jn like manner some of the islanders of the Pacific Ocean who had the practice
of tattooing their skins, and marking their bodies with various colours, were
termed by the Spaniards ‘‘ Pintados.” [Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind,
vol. i., p. 465.}

2 Speed’s Historie of Great Britaine, p. 8, 21.

Milton’s History of England, vol. i., p. 13.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 5.
Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 67.
Cartes’ History of England, p. 74.

Rapin’s History of England, vol. i., p. 5.

3 For an aceount of the modern practice of tattooing, and that too with blue
colouring matter, amongst the inhabitants of the islands of the South Pacific,
see the narrative of the circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian frigate
Novara, by Karl Scherzer, vol. ii., pp. 573—602. Also Prichard’s Physical
History of Mankind, vol. i., p. 423,

4Pomponius Mela speaks of dying the body with woad, as a mark of rude and
unpolished manners (iil., 6), but Herodotus in describing the customs of the
Thracians says, ‘‘ tattooing amongst them marks noble birth, aud the want of it
low birth (book v., chap. 6).

Tyrrell’s History of England, vol. i., p. 21.

”

;
UK
A
“1

*
al
*

(i
t

a

Miniter, A =)

Edw: Kite, anastat:

Ring, AND BEAD ORNAMENTS.

NECKLACES

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 115

late period that they became acquainted with the arts of dressing
spinning and weaving flax and wool. But other arts of personal
adornment were not wholly unknown to the ancient Britons: brace-
lets, collars, necklaces, and other bead ornaments, formed of wood,
glass, bone, jet, amber, and cannel coal,! have been frequently
found in the barrows, and attest the love of finery, so prevalent
among all nations; so that, when invaded by the Romans, they
presented in this, as in other respects, a certain advance towards
civilization.

Such was their personal appearance; let us now see what was
their general disposition. On the one hand they are described as
brave, bold, intrepid, fearless, careless of danger, ingenious, grateful,
docile, hospitable and kind to strangers; simple and frugal in their
manner of living; sincere and plain-dealing; knowing no deceit or
flattery ; famous for their natural affections, and above all for attach-
ment to their chieftains: on the other hand these good traits are

- counter-balanced by most of the vices conspicuous among barbarous

tribes: they were intolerably proud, vain, and boasting; insolent, over-
bearing, and presumptuous; weak, impulsive, and unintelligent ;*
they were of a fiery temper, liable to paroxysms of extreme
passion ; ever ready to quarrel; and in their rage cruel and

1 Archeological Journal, vol. i., p. 352, ii., 368—380, iii., 2738.
?See Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, passim, especially vol. i., pp. 27, 46,
161—2, &e. ,

_ § Homer’s Illiad, xiii., 6.

;

Horace Odes, iii., 24.
Justin, ii., 2.
f®lian Var: Hist: lib. 12, ¢. 28.
Seneca de ira, lib. iii., c. 3.
Polyb: lib. ii., p. 122.
Camden’s Britannia, p. 15.
Rollin’s Ancient History, vol. ii., p. 219, 237.
Strutt’s Chronicles of England, vol. i., p. 1.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 279, chap. vii.
Cartes’ History of England, p. 72.
Sharon Turner’s History of England. p. 71.
Tyrrell’s History of England, vol. i., p. 21.
Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 11, 22.
The English at Home, by Alphonse Esquiros.
‘Professor Pearson’s Early and Middle Ages of England, p. 6.

K 2

116 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

revengeful :! while hating industry, and for the most part slothful
and indolent, yet they were always eager for war and robbery.

That being their general character, we shall not expect to find
them given to very laborious occupations, or with any great liking
for the practical works of industry; but we shall be prepared to
see them adhering more willingly to a pastoral and agricultural
life, hunting, fishing, and the like. And in truth the Celt was no
lover of trades, but an ardent lover of the soil.

Probably the first inhabitants of this island subsisted by eating
without dressing what the earth in its uncultivated wildness pro-
duced, such as berries, roots, and herbs, with which the vast forests
must have abounded.? But seeing themselves surrounded by a
prodigious number of animals of various kinds, a great portion of
their time would be occupied in entrapping and otherwise securing
game.’ This is an employment in which the rudest savages have
always proved themselves extremely skilful. Indeed, according to
Ossian, the son of Fingal, (who flourished among that people,)
hunting was the only business of the heroes of this country in
time of peace. It has recently been conclusively proved by
Zoologists, as has long been surmised by Professor Owen, that

1 «Be thou a storm in war, but mild when the foe is low: it was thus my
fame arose,” was the advice of the brave Fingal to his son. (Ossian, Calthon
and Colmal.)

Compare the fierceness, perhaps we may say ferocity of the Assyrians in war,
combined with the general mildness and clemency of their disposition. [Raw-
linson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 303.] And also the cruel conduct in war
of the Thracians, who were»partially civilized, and certainly not reckoned among
the most barbaric people. This information we derive from Thucydides, who
must have known them thoroughly from living so long amongst them. [Book
vil., chap. 29. See too Bloomfield’s Thucydides, in loco. |

2 Ovid Metam: i., 103.

Dion Cassius, quoted in Tyrrell’s History of England, vol, i., p. 21.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 97, chap. v.
Horace Sat: i., 3, 100.

3 The Britons were forbidden by their religion to eat either hare, fowls or
geese: at least so says Ceesar ‘‘leporem et gallinam et anserem gustare fas non |
putant: hee tamen alunt animi voluptatisque causa:” (Bell: Gall: v., 12) com-
menting on which, the writer of an able article in the Quarterly Review, July,
1863, pertinently inquires, ‘“‘did not the ancient Britons eat eggs?” [See
Speed’s Historie of Great Britain, p. 21.

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 117

amongst the larger animals, not only bears, wolves and beavers,
the red deer, the wild boar, and the elk; but that also the large
horned cattle, known as “ bos longifrons,”’ abounded in this island
contemporaneously with its earliest inhabitants;' so that in addition
to the smaller species, there was no lack of noble game to tempt
the Celtic sportsman to the forest.’

Again, pasturage,’ or feeding flocks and herds of tame animals,
was one of their earliest occupations. This was undoubtedly a
way of life, peculiarly agreeable to a people in a state of barbarism,
or but just emerging from the savage state; because it requires no
great labour or industry, to which they have a supreme aversion :
and also because it gratifies their roaming unsettled disposition.
Accordingly amongst many tribes, their cattle formed their prin-
cipal means of subsistence, and even up to the time of their first
invasion by the Romans, were their only possessions. It is sup-
posed that those who were so employed were called “Cangi” or
*‘Ceangi,”> traces of whom may be found in many counties: they
would not confine themselves to one locality, but range about the

1 Treatise on the Zoology of Ancieut Europe, by Alfred Newton, Esq., read
before the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1862. See also Zoologist 2345,
2381, 8187. Archeological Journal, vol. vi., p. 34.

2 We learn from Strabo (lib. iv., p. 200) and Claudian that the Britons were
_ famous in those days for their breed of dogs; ‘‘canes ad yenandum aptissimi,”

Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 184.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 6.

$ Milton’s History of England, vol.i., p. 13.

Hume’s History of England, chap. i,
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 97, chap. v.
“ Cesar says ‘‘ pecorum magnus numerus,” Bell: Gall: v., 12, 14.
; Henry’s History of Great Britain, i., 315, ii., v., 97.
5Spelman’s villare Anglican, v. can.
Horsm: Brit: Rom: p. 31, 372.
Camden’s Britannia, p. 83, 216, 436.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., 3, p. 274.
The prevalence of caste in very early times was entire and universal: thus
‘various castes existed amongst the Athenians, who derived their name from
_ their occupations (Herodotus, y., 66) and amongst the Egyptians (Herodotus ii.,
4 164). See Note in Rawlinson’s Herodotus, iii., 273, 274; also Genesis xliii., 32,
The ancient Persians too were divided into tribes or castes, as are the modern
Hindoos and other Eastern nations. [Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind,
yol. ii., p. 7.]

118 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

district, in which their tribe was settled, as they were invited by
the season and abundance of pasture for their flocks. We may
still see throughcut our Downs many a bank and ditch, some of
which may have been lines of boundary and defence, and others
fences for the protection of their flocks and herds: and here and
there we may observe a mark of enclosure, sometimes taking the
form of a square, more frequently an oblong, which are supposed
to be the vestiges of the cattle pens of these, the earliest shepherds
of the Down.!

The next step from pasturage has been in all countries to agri-
culture:? but inasmuch as the latter entails a considerable amount
of skill as well as of physical exertion, this step has generally not
been taken until after a wide interval. In Britain, it scarcely
seems to have been practised at all by the original Celtic tribes :
but when the Belgz, a colony more advanced in civilization,®
crossed over from Belgium in the second or third century B.C.
they began to cultivate the soil near the sea coast:4 and it may
astonish some of our agriculturalists on the Downs to learn, as we
do from Pliny, that the method they so often pursue, of “ rubbling
the land,” as we call it in Wiltshire, or manuring it with chalky
marle, was practised here 2000 years ago by the Belge. The fact
is so interesting to us Wiltshiremen, thst I cannot help quoting
the passage from Pliny which records it.6 ‘The people of Gaul
and Britain” (he says) ‘‘ have found out another kind of manure
for their grounds: which is a fat clay or earth called ‘ marle,’ of
which they entertain a very high opinion. Of those marles which
are esteemed the fattest, the white ones are most valuable: of these

1 Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 179, 190, &c., vol. ii., 10, 106, &c.,
and passim,

2 Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 97, chap. v.

’ Cesar Comment: de Bell: Gall: liv. v., cap. 12.

Carte’s History of England, p. 76.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 67.

Prichard’s Celtic Nations, p. 110.

* Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. ii., pp. 106—109.

5 Pliny’s Natural History, lib. xvii., c. 6.

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i.. p. 11.
Henry’s History of England, vol. ii., p. 97, chap. v.

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 119

there are several kinds: first, that which hath the most sharp and
piquant taste, another kind is the white chalkey marle, which is
most used in Britain: its effects are found to continue eighty
years, and no man was ever yet known to have manured the same
field with this marle twice in his lifetime.’ This will give us
some notion, that a people so far advanced in scientific agriculture,
was not altogether unskilled in profitably working the ground they
brought into cultivation: and though the Belge settled themselves
at first on the coast, and never advanced very far north, we may
consider them as inhabitants of a portion of Wiltshire, for the
noble Wansdyke is generally allowed to be the work of this people,
who gradually advancing from the coast, and driving before them
the original settlers, secured the territory they had gained by a
ditch and bank of no ordinary dimensions; and Wansdyke, so

_ conspicuous a feature in the centre of our Downs, remains a sample
of the fourth and last of these boundary defences, and a monu-
ment of the perseverence and laborious operations of those times.’
Northward then of Wansdyke, the Belge seem never to have
advanced, while southward they had gained possession of the
country to the sea-coast: and hence, (till Canon Jackson’s well-
_ sustained argument dispersed all other theories, and has now happily,
as I think, settled the question for ever,) had been by some attri-
buted the origin of the name of the capital town of North Wilts,
_ “the Devizes,” or the town at the division or near the border land
or boundary, the border land, that is of the Belgz and the Celt.
But to return to the occupations of the Celts: we can hardly
suppose that those who dwelt so far in-land knew much of com-
merce and trade. Exchange and barter of commodities within the
limits of each little state® was all the traffic they practised, con-
_ tenting themselves generally with what their own country produced :
_ though doubtless those who dwelt near the coast had some considerable

Ye

1Sir Richard Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. ii., pp. 16—21. See also a treatise
On the Belgic ditches” in the Jonrnal of the Archeological Institute, vol. viii.,
_ pp. 143—157, by Dr. Guest.
_ * Wiltshire Collections, by Aubrey and J sii, p- 306.
Wiltshire Magazine, vol. ix., p. 41.
° Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p- 195, chap. yi.

120 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire,

mercantile transactions with the Phenicians. The maritime
tribes also soon learned to construct rude vessels, for commercial
as well as warlike purposes: ! their trading voyages were at first
entirely coasting, but afterwards they ventured to launch out into
the open sea, guiding their course by the stars.? But of this the
tribes who dwelt in the interior of the island knew nothing: they
navigated the rivers indeed, first on rafts formed of trees lashed
together,? then in canoes or single trees hollowed out with great
labour, and afterwards in lighter boats made of osiers and the
flexible branches of trees, interwoven as closely as possible, and
covered with skins, like the coracles of Wales.*

These were the peaceful occupations of the ancient Britons; but
in addition to this, they were all warriors, and much of their time
was occupied in hostilities with other tribes, in repelling or in
making predatory raids; and to this end, all the young men ® (the
Druids and bards only excepted) were trained to the use of arms
from early youth; and as their very existence, as well as their
liberty, depended on their prowess, it was in all warlike arts and
exercises, that they attained the greatest proficiency. At first

! Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 6.

2 As contemporary with these earliest Celtic mariners, it is interesting to
compare the directions for steering homewards from Ogygia, given to Ulysses
by Calypso. [Homer’s Odyssey, book v., 272—277.

3 Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 6.

4 Compare Herodotus account of the round wicker boats covered with skins,
in use on the Euphrates, (book i., chap. 194), also the modern vestiges of the
same. Ker Porter describes them, as ‘‘of close willow work, well coated with
the bituminous substance of the country. [Travels, vol. ii., p. 260.) Mr.
Layard adds that they are ‘‘sometimes covered with skins, over which the
bitumen is smeared,” (Nineveh, part ii., chap. 5), and Colonel Chesney says, ‘in
the present day the basket work is rarely covered with leather.” They are
called ‘‘ Kufas,” and are represented in the Nineveh sculptures. See Rawlin-
son’s Herodotus, vol. i., p, 334. Also his Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii., p. 172.
Carte’s History of England, p. 76.

‘‘The Coracles” of Gaul, or hide-boats were famous in very early times.
[Keithley’s Rome, p. 432. ]

In like manner the early Chaldean vessels were either canoes hollowed out of
a palm trunk, or reed fabrics made water tight by a coating of bitumen. [Raw-
linson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 128. ]

5 Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 5.

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indeed, they knew nothing of metals, and all their arms as well as
implements, were made of flints, bones, and similar substances ;
and we need look no farther than our own museum to see great
numbers of sharp instruments, such as knives, the heads of axes,
spears and arrows, all of flint,! which have been turned up by the
plough on our downs. Subsequently however, they found out the
use, and the art of working several metals, as tin, lead, brass and
iron.?, This enormously increased their strength, and by means of
the “Celt ”* or axe-head, first fixed in a hilt of split wood, after-
wards formed with cheeks, or a socket, to receive the handle; they
were in a condition to inflict more formidable wounds in battle, as
well as cultivate the land more efficiently. Once possessed of metals,
their progress was rapid, and soon they became renowned for their
war chariots, which armed with scythes and hooks arranged to
cut and tear everything which came within reach, were driven with
great rapidity through the ranks of their foes. But this was in all
probability due, not to native invention, but to tradition of what
was in use among other nations, the recollection of which they
must have brought with them; for war chariots were in very early
use amongst many nations of the East and South.®

1 Flints were often employed in Egypt for tipping arrows, in lieu of metal
heads, Some knives also have been found in Egypt such as the Britons and
Romans had (Liv. i., 24), The Ethiopians too had reed arrows tipped with
pebbles (Herodotus, ii., 86. vii., 69), [Rawlinson, ii., 141, iii, 3, iv., 68.]
“The spear and the bow were the national weapons of the European Scyths, the
bow on the whole being regarded as the most essential.”

2 Cesar’s Comment: de Bell: Gall: lib. v., 12.

Pliny Natural History, lib. xxxiy., c. 17 (49).
Henry’s History of Great Britain, ii., p. 136, chap. 5.

3Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 203.

Archeological Journal, vol. i., p. 226, iv., 1—6, 327—337, vi., p. 363—392,

* Cesar de Bell: Gall: lib. iv.. 33, lib. v., 19.

Keithley’s History of Rome, p. 158, 263.
Ossian, v., 1, p. 11—12.
Camden’s Britannia, p. 12.
Rapin’s History of England, vol.i, p. 5.
Carte’s History of England, p. 74.
Milton’s History of England, vol. i., p. 13.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 5.
5 As the use of the war chariot in ancient Britain has been disputed by some,

122 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

When not employed in war or hunting, they delighted to spend
whole days in revelling and feasting,’ to which the song of the
bard was a necessary accompaniment. They drank ale even in
those early days, but mead seems to have been their favorite bever-

I would call especial attention to the following authorities for its prevalence in
contemporary or eyen much earlier times, thus proving how wide-spread and
general was its adoption.

We hear of the war chariots of the Egyptians, the Canaanites, the Syrians,
the Israelites, comprising almost all the nations of whom the Old Testament
treats, in Exodus xiv., 7—28, Joshua xvii., 18, Judges i., 19, iv., 3, 1 Samuel
viii., 11, 12, 2 Samuel x., 18, 1 Kings iv., 26, xvi., 9, xxii., 34. 2 Kings vi.,
14, 15, xviii, 24, Isaiah xxxvi., 9, xxxvii., 24, Jeremiah xlvi., 9, Ezekiel
Xxili., 24, and many other passages of Holy Scripture.

Ctesias asserted that the war chariots of the Assyrians even at a yery early
period were armed with scythes, a statement contradicted by Xenophon, who
ascribes this invention to the Persians (De Cyr: Inst: vi., 1, 30).

In Homer we have continual reference to the war chariots in general use
amongst the combatants on either side: (see particularly Iliad iii., 29, iv., 366,
xvi., 148—154, 467474, xix., 397.) And we have farther allusion to them in
Virgil, (En: x., 453, vii., 184,) Horace, Ovid and Tacitus.

In Rollin’s Ancient History we read of the war chariots of the Egyptians
B.C. 941, (vol. i., 61,) of the chariots armed with scythes of the Assyrians B.C.
2000, (vol. i., p. 268,) of the Medes, (vol. i., p. 301,) of the Persians, likewise
armed with scythes (vol. ii., pp. 32, 117, 118).

Keithley mentions the scythed chariots of the Syrians, (History of Rome,
p. 263,) of the Armenians, (p. 373,) and, to come nearer home, of the Gauls,
(p. 158.)

Rawlinson speaks of the Babylonian chariots of war, (Herodotus, vol. i.,
p- 513,) of the Egyptian B.C. 990, (vol ii., 376,) of the Salaminian, (vol. ii.,
p- 320,) of the Persian and Assyrian, (vol. iv., p. 119,) and for a full deserip-
tion of these latter, see vol. ii., 1—21, of the Five Great Monarchies of the

Ancient Eastern World, by the same author; who also speaks of the Ethiopian —

war chariots (vol. ii., 433).

No less full and definite is the description of the war chariots of the ancient
Egyptians, given by Sir Gardner Wilkinson in his most comprehensive work on
that nation, (vol. i., pp. 345, et seq.) See too Layard’s Monuments of Nineveh,
2nd series, plate 24, and his Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii., p. 350.

Now if nations so various, so many, so disconnected with one another, and of
such different degrees of civilization as these were, made use of the chariot in
their battles, I see no ground for refusing credence to the plain declaration of
Cesar, who speaks with the authority of an eye-witness when he describes, so
minutely as he does, the tactics in battle and the maneuvring of the British
chariots of war. [Bell: Gall: iv., 33, v., 19.]

1 War, drinking, and the chace, were the principal delights of all barbaric
nations. Compare Herodotus, iib. y., cap. 6, on the customs of the Thracians.

—_— a

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 123

‘ age, and as they drank it from shells, it was called in Ossian, who
never tires of describing these incessant banquets and carousals,
“the joy and the strength of shells:”! but I do not know, that
like the northern tribes of Scandinavia of a much later date, or like
their contemporaries among certain barbarian races, they ever took
delight, (and a fiendish delight it must have been,) in using as
_ drinking cups the skulls of their enemies.? Neither am I willing
_ to give ready belief to the assertion of some authors that the ancient
Britons were cannibals.’ Before we stamp them with so black a
crime, we ought to require undoubted evidence; but the accusation
rests on very insufficient testimony, and is not touched upon by the
_ most reliable authorities. Moreover, such a practice, only adopted
by the most ferocious savages, seems scarcely in accordance with
their general character: for though fierce in war, there was yet
_ something gentle and mild in their ordinary demeanour, and the
_ mind recoils from fixing on them any such opprobrium, and refuses
credence to the tale.
_ With regard to their habitations,‘ like those of the Ethiopian
_ Troglodytes,> they were frequently placed underground. At first,
_ they took possession of such natural caves,® as they found suited to
their use, or inhabited dens and thickets: but afterwards, (as we
_ learn from Tacitus) they used to dig deep pits” in the ground, and
% 1 Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 8.
_ *Herodotus relates how the Scythians adopted this practice, (lib. iv., cap. 65,)
_ and Ammianus Marcellinus, speaking of the Scordisci, a Teutonic race, says,
“humanum sanguinem in ossibus capitum cavis bibunt avidiis” (xxvii., 4).
[See Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. iii., p. 56. ] Livy too describes a similar cus-
tom amongst the Boii, a tribe of Gauls, (lib. xxiii., 24), And at this day some
of the tribes of the Southern Ocean pursue the same oweible custom. [Prichard’s
Physical History of Mankind, vol. i., p. 394.]
_ 8Strabo, lib. iv., p. 201.
Diodorus Sic: lib. v., p. 235, cap. 32.
_ Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., chap. 7.

_ 4Bateman’s Ten years digging i in Celtic and Saxon grave-hills, p. 194.
ee ndotas, lib. ili, we 97, iv., ¢. 183.

Juvenal: Satir : vs 3.
__ Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 11.
7 Tacitus Germania, cap. 16.

124 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

then covering them with boughs and earth, not only had store-
houses wherein to lay up their provisions, and warm dwelling
places during the cold of winter, but secure retreats from their
enemies, who when plundering the open country, often failed to
discover these subterranean recesses.! These pits were circular,
and in the shape of inverted cones; they were placed in close
proximity to one another, for the sake of mutual protection, as
well as society, and generally on the sides of hills. By careful
research, traces, (though often I confess somewhat obscure)? have
been found, of these ancient dwelling places; and antiquaries
examining the ground with practised eye, have pointed out the
sites of Celtic villages, and the tracts or hollow ways leading
thereto.’ In this enquiry, none have been more indefatigable, and
none more successful, than our Wiltshire Antiquaries, Sir Richard
Hoare, and his coadjutor, Mr. Cunnington. On a close exami-
nation they discovered vestiges of these hut-circles in various parts
of our downs: they pointed out spots where they were grouped to-
gether in considerable numbers, and they unhesitatingly pronounced
them to be British villages | We may see them on our own downs,
more especially within or just outside the British camps, which so
often crown the highest eminences; and in other suitable localities.
They now present the appearance of circular pits more or less filled
in; some nearly obliterated, being little more than slight depres-
sions in the soil, though others are still of considerable depth.
And we need but to point to the famous Pen Pits near Gillingham,
several thousands in number, visited by the Society during its
meeting at Shaftesbury in 1861, and the able paper by Mr.

Rapin’s History of England, vol.i., p. 5.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 115.
Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 35, 84.

1 Ephorus said of the Kimmerians that they dwelt in subterraneous habitations
which they called * argillas,” communicating by trenches, (Ap. Strabo Geo.,
lib. v., p. 375). It is certainly a curious analogy of language, that arge/ in the
language of the Cymry or British means a ‘‘ covert,” a place covered over.
[Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 37.]

2 The English at Home, by Alphonse Esquiros.

3 Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 19, 44, 116, &c., vol. ii., 37, 109, &c.,
and throughout both volumes.

4 Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol i., p. 50, 83, 89, 196, vol. ii., 43, &c.

——_ ee ee

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 125

~ Cunnington on their object,! as the most ample exemplification of
this subject. But the Celtic tribes were not content with one
dwelling place: they must have summer residences as well: these
were very slight, and consisted only of a few stakes driven into
the ground, interwoven with wattles, and covered over with boughs
of trees.? Then they learned to daub these wattled walls of their
houses with clay, to fill up the chinks, and so make them warmer ;
and to whitewash the clay, after it became dry, with chalk. Then
they thatched their huts, first with boughs and afterwards with
straw; and finally, they substituted solid beams of wood for the
stakes and wattles: and thus their temporary houses, intended
only for summer use, assumed a more permanent form, and were
continuously inhabited. Still they retained the circular form,
with high tapering roofs, at the top or centre of which was an
aperture for the admission of light and the emission of smoke.
These huts were scattered about the country, generally either on
the brink of some rivulet for the sake of water, or on the edge of a
wood, for the convenience of hunting. And sometimes such habi-
_ tations were grouped together, and surrounded by a mound and
ditch, for the security of themselves and their cattle, against the
incursions of their enemies. ‘And this” (Casar and Strabo
_ remark in a sneering tone) “is what the Britons call a town, no
_ other than a tract of woody country, for the forests of the Britons
are their cities.”* I fear that the assertion of the above-named
authors was not without foundation, and that the Celts never
attained much knowledge of domestic architecture: or shall I say
that they evinced a contented mind, in being easily satisfied with
_ the humblest homes? But I think we may safely sum up our
a account of their dwelling places in the words of another historian,
Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol, i., p. 37, 284.

- 2Ovid: Metam: lib. i., 122.

_ Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 16, 69.

_ Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 116,

Compare Rawlinson’s account of the reed, wattled and rush huts of the early
4 Chaldean settlers. [Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, i., 88, 89.]

3Cwsar Comment: de Bell: Gall: lib. v., 21.
Strabo, lib. v., p. 197.

126 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiitshire.

Diodorus Siculus; who, (though contemporary with Cesar, and
therefore describing their houses, when in their most advanced
stage of civilization,) says, “the Britons dwell in wretched huts.’ !

Connecting these villages with one another, Sir Richard Hoare
traced on our Wiltshire downs, in several instances, what he desig-
nated as covered ways of communication, being hollow roads with
banks on either side, protecting and concealing the traveller.?

In addition to these, were the Ridgways, or British trackways,
many of which are still in existence and indeed in present use on
our downs, and of which we have in North Wilts some admirable
examples. Unlike the Roman roads, they do not keep an invari-
able straight line,® but wind along the tops or sides of the chain of
hills which lay in their way.

And now we pass on to consider that wherein they certainly
made great proficiency; religion and philosophy. That the Druids,
who were the priests of Britain, were famous even among foreign
nations,’ for their superior knowledge of the principles, and for
their great zeal for the rites of their religion, we have the testimony
of Cesar. What those principles were, or rather to what they
degenerated is not so certain: but in the outset, I contend that
they must have retained considerable traces of the true faith.
Sprung, as the Celts were, from Gomer,’ the grandson of Noah, it
is not to be imagined, that for sometime at least, they could have

1 Diodorus Siculus, lib. v., cap. 8.
2 Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 19,44, 116, ii., 37, 109.
3 Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 248, ii., 3, 8, 29, 107,
* Diodorus Siculus, lib. v., eap. 21. p. 354.
5 Strabo, lib. iv., p. 197.
Cicero de Divin: lib. i.
Mela, lib. iii., c. 2.
Ammian: Marcellin, c. 15.
Tacit: Annal: 1. 14.
Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., chap. 2, vol. ii., 2.

6 Cesar Comment: de Bell: Gall: lib. vi., cap. 13, who also adds that such
of the Gauls as were desirous of being thoroughly instructed in the principles of
their religion (which was the same with that of the Britons), usually took a
journey into Britain for that purpose.

7 Rapin’s History of England, vol. i., p. 5.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., 2.

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 127

been unacquainted with the knowledge of the true God, and the
more essential principles of religion: undoubtedly that knowledge
soon became corrupted, mixed with much that was false; overlaid,
and in some measure, obscured by additions and inventions, until
at length it became a gross superstition. Still, there was no
sharp line between the true and untrue religions: there was a true
religion,’ when the untrue began to gather upon it, and encrust it:
and though the human element was gradually imported into the Di-
vine, yet traces of the original truths might long remain discernible
in the adulterated system :? and thus, I submit that the religion of
the earliest inhabitants of this island probably contained remnants
of the primitive religion, as known to Noah and his sons. More-
over, they held opinions in common with other kindred orders of
philosophers in various parts of the globe: thus, the Druids of
Britain and Gaul, the Magi of Persia, the Chaldeans of Assyria,
_ the Brahmins of India, and the priests of Egypt, are all proved to
_ have had a great similarity,? if not an identity in many of their
customs and institutions, though living under such different
climates, and at so great a distance from one another, without
intercourse or communication. And does not this show that all

1 Gladstone’s Homer and the Homeric Age, vol. ii., p. 1—23, 31.

_ Asan example of this, I would point to the tradition of the Noachian deluge
_ preserved among the Greeks in the fable of Deucalion; and indeed among many
nations. [Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. ii., p. 604.] And again
we see traces of the truth in the false conceptions of the Persians with regard to
the good God Oromasdes, and the evil God Ahriman, [See Rollin, ii., 140, 165.
Dean Prideaux’s connection of Old and New Testaments.] Again, the fable of
_ Ganymede embodies the true account of Enoch. [See Gladstone’s Homer, ii.,171.]
_ Also, the governing Triad of classical mythology, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto,
_ suggests a corrupted tradition of the Trinity, [Rawlinson’s Herodotus, i., 587. |
‘While in the present day, among the Hindoos, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, (the
Creator, Preserver and Regenerator,) betoken traces of original truth even
amongst that degraded nation. [Rawlinson, ii., 296. Dr. Karl Scherzers
Voyage of the Austrian Frigate Novara, vol. i., p. 435.] So again we see truth
embodied in the traditions of the early Chaldees, of the Creation, the Deluge,
the Confusion of Languages. [Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i.,
yp. 180-—188. ]

_ §Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., chap. 2, vol. ii., p. ii.

Rollin’s Ancient History, vol. ii., p. 139.

__ Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. ii., p. 198, 552.

128 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

these opinions originally had their source in one fountain, and that
from their common ancestor Noah, these streams of religious
knowledge flowed, though through distinct and separate channels.

Then again the Druids,! (though they never committed their
doctrines to writing, and communicated some of their tenets only
to the initiated,? so that we have no means of ascertaining their
entire creed) undoubtedly taught the immortality of the soul,’ and
another life after the present. They also advocated mutual kind-
ness, justice and equity ; bravery in battle, and reverence towards
the Deity they worshipped. But together with a little truth, they
unhappily combined a great deal that was false and polluted.
Thus, out of the original true belief, they came to adore a plurality
of gods: conspicuous among which was the Sun, that most ancient
and most universal object of idolatrous worship.* To it were
dedicated the famous circles of enormous stones, of which we have
in this county the finest examples, in Stonehenge and Avebury.
There they kept the sacred fire, the symbol of this Divinity: and

1 The word Druid was derived from ‘‘deru,” which in the Celtic language
signified ‘‘an oak,” as does ‘‘drus’”’ in Greek. Father Pezron in his book on the

origin of the Celtic language supposes that the Latin and Greek tongues were
derived from the Celtic. [Rapin’s History of England, vol. i., 5.]

2 Humes’ History of England, chap. i.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., 73.

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., 18.

‘‘The language of flowers was employed by the ancient Druids to conceal
their meaning from the uninitiated: thus these leaves and flowers and plants
represented to the eye and ear things totally different. In the floral alphabet
of the Irish Druids a sprig of yew stood for the letter T, a branch of furze for
O, a sprig of heath for U, &c., &c. A similar alphabet, which had its origin
in the poetical east, may still be found amongst the Chinese and Mexicans
[Monthly Packet, vol. xviii., p. 628.]

3«‘The Druids taught the immortality of the soul which distinguished them

above all nations, as the fundamental principle of religion; but they grafted on -

it the wretched doctrine of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls,”
[Carte’s History of England, p. 38. Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind,
vol. ii., p. 172].
4 Job xxxi., 26, ‘27.

2 Kings xxiii., 11.

Herodotus, lib. i., ec. 212, 131.

Rollins’ Ancient History, vol. ii., p. 136.

Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. i., 2.

a

26 tees BEA,

By the Rev, A. C. Smith. 129

thence, as always situated on high ground, they had a full view of
‘their rising and setting Deity, and of the other heavenly bodies,
the Moon and tho Stars, which they associated with him in his
worship. Here they sang hymns of praise to their deified lumi-
nary: here they put up prayers for his favour and protection:

here too they practised their rites of divination, so all important
among heathen nations: and carefully guarded the customs and
ceremonies of their religion, from which nothing would induce
them to deviate: ' and here they offered sacrifices, though I cannot
allow that there is any authority for the assertion so little sub-
tantiated, though so often repeated, that some of their victims
were human. For we must remember that the Druids were at the
zenith of their power and glory,?.when the Romans first invaded
Britain: and as they rallied the people, and resisted the authority
of the invaders, and were the greatest hindrance to their success;
‘the latter blackened their character by false accusations of cruelty,
O give some colour of excuse for the persecutions they began

against them.? And this was no new device of the Romans, for

Athenian practice [Acts xvii., 18 —23], with the law of the barbarian Medes
Persians, which altereth not [Daniel vi., 8, 12, 15]. The Egyptians again
adopted foreign customs [Herod: lib: ii., c. 91. Rawlinson ii., 206.
ard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. i., p. 326, quoting Dénon]: and
e Scythians entertained an extreme aversion to them, is evidenced by the
f Anacharsis and Scylas [Herod: lib: iv., cap. 76—80.] So again, the

al a spirit, as to avoid every thing foreign [Thucydides book i., chap. 77,
just as the Chinese and Japanese do at the present day.

2 Professor Pearson’s Early and Middle ages of England, p. 14.

Ie ompare Herodotus’ most sound refutation of the unfounded assertion of the
ec] ks, that human sacrifices were offered by the Egyptians. (Lib: ii., cap. 45,
wlinson’s note, vol. ii., p. 84 and 190.] See also, Thueyd: i., 22.

L. IX.—NO. XXVI. 5

130 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

against Hannibal, which were quite untrue and indeed belied by
facts.

But to return to the Druids: they thought it unlawful to wor-
ship under roofs: hence their open temples: and when they wished
to avoid distraction, interruption and intrusion, they chose the
deepest recesses of the sacred woods; groves of oak! more especially,
which even the Hebrew patriarchs seem to have venerated ;? and
whence they obtained the notorious mistletoe, severed from the
parent tree with such ceremony, and so honoured in their worship.
The British Druids moreover were notoriously learned :* they were
proficients in astronomy ;* masters in eloquence; able instructors
of youth; had a considerable knowledge of physic;° and that they
had no little acquaintance with the mechanical arts, the erection of
those colossal stones, so noble from their proportions, at Stonehenge
and Avebury, amply demonstrate.®

1 The Greeks had their sacred oaks at Dodona [ Herod: lib: ii., cap. 55], and
‘Sacra Jovi quercus” was acommon maxim. Carte’s History of England, p. 42.

Lingard’s History of England, vol. i., p. 16.

Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. i., p. 73.

Camden’s Britannia, p. 14.

?Genesis xxxy. 4, 8. Joshua xxiv. 26. Compare Ezekiel vi. 13. Hosea
v., 13.

$Jn connection with the advanced state of learning in ancient Britain, it may
amuse the inhabitants of Wiltshire to read the following monkish legend recorded
by John Rous, the Warwick antiquary. ‘Our Chronicles say that some very
learned men came from Greece to Britain with king Brutus, and made choice of
a place, which from them is still called ‘‘ Greeklade,” (Cricklade) where they ~
dwelt, and established an University. Among these learned Greeks there were —
some who excelled in the knowledge of medicine ; who took up their residence,
and fixed their physical school at a very healthy place, not far distant, which Z
from them is called ‘‘ Lechlade.” Afterwards these schools were removed to —
Oxford, as more commodious and pleasant.” [Camden’s Britannia, p. 241.] i

4Compare the Astral religion, the study of the heavenly bodies, and the ©
astronomical knowledge of the early Chaldean nation, as pointed out in Rawlin-
son’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 139, 201.

;
;

5 Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 2, 4

6 How these vast masses of stone were transported and erected, and how the
ceross-stones were placed in the positions where we now find them, are questions —
which have caused no small amount of speculation and controversy: though
much light sems to have been thrown upon the subject by the Assyrian dis-—
coveries of Mr. Layard, especially the famous bas reliefs at Koyunjik, representing |

By the Rev. A. CO. Smith. 181

the transport of the colossal human-headed bulls from the quarry to the palace
gateways.
Here we see the huge block placed upon a rude sledge and conveyed along
level ground by vast bodies of labourers disposed in gangs, and working under
_ taskmasters who use their rods upon the slightest provocation. The sledge was
an enormous wooden boat-like structure, and the ponderous mass it contained
was cased with an openwork of spars or beams, which crossed each other at
_ right angles, and were made perfectly tight by means of wedges. To avert the
great danger of the mass toppling over sideways, ropes were attached to the top
of the casing, at the point where the beams crossed one another, and were held
_ taut by two parties of labourers, one on either side of the statue. Besides
_ these, wooden forks or props were applied on either side to the second horizontal
_ eross-beams, held also by men, whose business it would be to resist the least
- indication of the huge stone to lean to one side more than to the other. The front
_ of the sledge on which the colossus stood, was curved gently upwards to facilitate
_ its sliding along the ground, and to enable it to rise with readiness upon the
rollers, which were continually placed before it by labourers just in front;
while others following behind gathered them up when the bulky mass had
_ passed over them. The motive power was applied in front by four gangs of
men who held on to four large cables, at which they pulled by means of small
ropes or straps fastened to them, and passed under one shoulder and over the
other, an arrangement which enabled them to puli by weight as much as by
muscular strength. The cables appear to have been of great strength and are
fastened carefully to four projecting pins; two near the front, two at the back
part of the sledge, by a knot so tied that it would be sure not to slip. Finally,
as in spite of the rollers, (whose use in diminishing friction, and so facilitating

a ightly, and so propel it forward, while to secure a sound and firm fulcrum,
wedges of wood were inserted between the lever and the ground. The greater

the lever was worked by means of them.
_ That was undoubtedly the mode, whereby, (in Assyria at least) the conveyance
uge blocks of stone along level ground -was effected: and with reference to
question how were the blocks raised up to the elevation at which we find
m placed; though we have no direct evidence upon this point, yet the
ability is that they were drawn up inclined ways, sloping gently from the
ural ground to the top of the platform. The Assyrians were familiar with
ned ways; the ‘‘banks” of Holy Scripture [II. Kings xix., 32. Isaiah
i +» 33,] which they almost always used in their attacks on walled places,
D ich i in many cases they constructed either of brick or stone. [See Mr.
“a yard’s Monuments 2nd series, Plates 18 and 21.] The Egyptians certainly
ployed them for the elevation of large blocks; indeed the great stones of
ich the pyramids were built were undoubtedly raised from the alluvial plain
D the rocky platform on which they stand, in this way. [Herodotus i li, 124,
ompare Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s note in Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. . p. 200, }
L

| Ve"
132 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

It remains only to examine their mode of sepulture. It was the
custom among some of the ancient Britons to lay the bodies of
their dead in the earth, and among others to burn them previous
to interment, after the manner of many Eastern and Southern
nations: both methods seem to have been practised contemporane-
ously.! Those who buried their dead unburnt, often enveloped
them in skins, or some other material; and then laid them upon a
bed of moss or fern, before they covered them with earth.2 And
this ancient custom of providing a grassy couch for the remains of
the deceased was long retained, from an intuitive feeling, (beauti-
fully expressed by Sir Thomas Browne, in his Hydriotaphia, when
referring to the sepulture of the ancients he says,) ‘that they
wished their bones might lie soft, and the earth be light upon
them.” And then, as their conviction of a future? life suggested
to them nothing more than a repetition of the joys and occupations
of the present, affection prompted them to bury his arms and ~
ornaments with the deceased owner,’ so that he might be duly ©
provided with all that he most needed on awaking in the happy

Diodorus even declares that the pyramids themselves were built by the help of |
mounds, (i. 62: 6,) but this seems improbable.

We may then, I think, conclude, that in the earlier times, most nations who
affected massive architecture had recourse to the same simple but uneconomical
plan: and it is the most reasonable supposition that the cross-stones at Stone-
henge, and the massive cap-stones of our Cromlechs, were placed in the positions
where we now find them by means of inelined planes, in the former
case afterwards cleared away, and in the latter remaining and increased as
protections to the tomb. [Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. 1., p.p. 495— —
500, and ii., 4612. Layard’s Monuments, 2nd series, Plates 10 to17. Also
his Nineveh and Babylon, p. 112.]

1Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 23, 24, 28.

Potter’s Grecian Antiquities, vol. i1., 208.
Bloomfield’s Thucydides, vol. i., p, 355.
2Ten years diggings in Celtic and Saxon grave-hills, by Thomas Bateman,
p- 123.

3§o in the ancient Chaldean tombs, while the floor was paved with brick
similar to that used for the roof and sides: upon this floor was commonly spread
a matting of reeds, and the body was laid upon the matting. [Rawlinson’s
Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 109.]

‘For flint arrow heads, the produce of barrows opened by him, see Sir
R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 104, 164, 183, 209, &c., and for flint spear
heads see vol. i., p. 39, 163, 172. Also Archeological Journal, vol. viii., 344,

q

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Be nin
os i hi mt

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h| th HI

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iY ut
aS UN

Mi Ny pe

AWG

dis MM
WN iA

NY , Kit)

Hy iN
N a

si

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Cah f 4 ip LOE

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SeEPuLowRA tL

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 133

hunting grounds.! For the same reason they interred earthen
vessels containing provision for the journey, a sort of viaticum
that they might not faint by the way.?

These vessels have been arranged into four classes by Mr.
Bateman,’ than whom no one can speak with more authority or
experience of Celtic pottery: and he tells us they were either *
(1.) Cinerary urns, such as have contained, or been inverted over,
calcined human bones: (their characteristics are, large size; with a
deep overhanging border: decorated with circular punctures and
impressions of a herring bone pattern; half burnt; very thick ;
‘of a brown colour outside, but inside always black, and often
showing marks, indicating that their contents were deposited in a
glowing state). Or (2) Incense cups, of doubtful purpose, but only
found with calcined bones, and often enclosed in urns of the first
class: (they were of diminutive size, and sometimes had two per-
forations on the side, as if for suspension). Or (8) small vases, with
a wide mouth, and a narrow bottom, intended to contain food:
generally found with unburnt bodies, though not unfrequently
with burnt bones, but never containing them. Or (4) drinking

_ cups, of a tall shape, contracted in the middle, globular below, and
_ expanding at the mouth, which contained liquid for the use of the

1This was a common custom in ancient times, Thucydides i., 8. Sophocles
_ Ajax 577, Homer’s Iliad xxiy., 18. It was practised by various Asiatic
nations, as the numerous barrows in Southern and Eastern Russia have demon-
strated : and was very anciently in use in America, a practice continued amongst
the Indians to this day. Bloomfield’s Thucydides, i., p. 24.
_ 2That this too was a practice in the ancient Chaldean nation, has been made
clear by the universal discovery in the tombs, of vessels for food, as well as jars
and other drinking vessels. [Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. i. p. 110,
135.]
8 Author of Ten years diggings in Celtic and Saxon grave-hills in the counties
of Derby, Stafford and York, from 1848, to 1858, London, 1861.
On the Celtic barrows and urns see ‘‘ The New Forest” by John Wise (Smith
and Elder), chapter xvii. pp. 196—212, and above all Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient
Wilts, passim, especially vol. i., p. 25, 26, 77.
_ *Compare Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts 2 vols.
(1) Cinerary Urns vol. i., p. 126, 167. ii., 11, 90.
_ (2) Incense Cups vol.i., p. 25, 199, 209.
— (8) Small Vases vol. i., p. 46, 102, 124. ii., 90.
(4) Drinking Cups vol. i., p. 205, 211. ii., 98.

184 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire.

deceased. We have examples of all these Celtic vessels in our .
Museum, but at Stourhead there is an unrivalled collection of
them, the produce of the Wiltshire barrows, examined by Sir
Richard Hoare: they furnish an admirable insight into the ce-
ramic skill of the ancient Britons: and speak in eloquent tones of
their habits and their ideas.

But in addition to the urns above mentioned, flints of various
sizes and portions! of earthen vessels are sometimes found: and it

1Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, i.. 71, 83, 124, 161. ii., 11.

The following isan extract from a letter in illustration of this subject written
in 1845 by the Rev. Ferdinand Keller, President of the Society of Antiquaries
of Zurich to Sir Henry Ellis, ‘‘In almost all the accounts of the opening of
Pagan Sepulchres and tumuli, mention is made of the discovery of fragments of
pottery, strewn in the soil, which appear to be portions of vessels similar to such
as are often found by the side of the human remains interred in those tombs ;
and consist of earthenware, not baked in a kiln, but imperfectly hardened by a
fire. These potsherds are found in sepulchres where there are no urns, and are
almost always fragments of different vessels. Archeologists have considered
them to be the relics of the Lyke-wake held at the funeral. Kleeman observes
that it was customary to bring the corpse to the place of interment, clad in
festive garments, and shew it to the friends: a banquet then commenced, and a
share was offered to the deceased. The revelry must have been of a very
lively (!) character, from the quantity of broken pottery found in these tombs.
Another remarkable circumstance in connection with Pagan places of burial is
the discovery of flints, which are found in all parts of the tumulus, buf chiefly
over the skeleton, varying considerably in size. This fact has been noticed by
antiquarians, who do not appear to have recognized the observance of a heathen
custom, and have not ascertained whether it may be regarded as characteristic
of the customs of Celtic or Germanic tribes. These traces of ancient usages
appear to throw light on a passage in Hamlet hitherto unexplained [Hamlet,
Act v., scene 1.] At the burial of Ophelia, Hamlet remarking that the usual
rites were not observed, supposes that the deceased had perished by her own
hand, Upon this, Laertes enquires with what rites the corpse is to be interred,
and the priest replies that her death had been doubtful; that, but for the
command that her obsequies should be otherwise ordered, the corpse should
have rested in unconsecrated soil; and ‘‘ for charitable prayers, shards, flints
and pebbles should be thrown on her.’ Mr. Keller supposes that Shakspeare
had in view some ancient usage, retained possibly in some part of England, in
accordance with which those who,~like pagans, had laid violent hands upon
themselves, were buried with ceremonies peculiar to the heathens. Upon
which Mr. Bateman remarks, ‘‘as far as our experience has given an opportu-
_ nity of coming to a decision, we should unhesitatingly say, that the Celtic origin —
of the custom is demonstrated in the course of the present volume. The
fragmentary pottery, the flints and the pebbles, to which we may add the teeth
of oxen, have been all but universally present in the earlier tumuli opened

: | By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 135

is to be observed that these fragments of broken pottery, are not

: to be attributed’ to breaking since their interment: for in the first
place portions only of them are to be found: and moreover they
bear marks of having been submitted to a great heat since their
fracture. What their object was we know not: though it is clear
that they must have been connected with some rite or custom.

Over the bodies so buried, was frequently raised a monument to

protect the beloved remains, to mark the hallowed spot, and to
record the memory of the deceased. First in order, as most noble
and imposing, and which above all others proclaim the grandeur
of the Celtic race, are the cromlechs. These are huge masses of
_ shapeless stone, of a Cyclopean character, cleverly poised on one
another, so as to protect the honoured remains interred below, and
though now by lapse of time and the effect of weather, generally
_ denuded of their coverings, they are supposed to have been uni-
__ versally enclosed within a mound of earth. We have several good
examples of the cromlech on our Downs of North Wilts; and I
still hold to the opinion expressed elsewhere,’ that Silbury, if it
could be more thoroughly examined, would be found to contain
one or more of these massive tombs.

More common, but still works of considerable magnitude, and
telling of much manual labour, are the barrows,’ the tumuli which
abound on our Downs in great profusion, though now alas fast
_ disappearing under the plough. They have been classed by Sir
Richard Hoare under various titles, according to their shape; as
the long, the round, the broad, the bell, the pond, the Druid ;* they
4 are of various sizes, and often occur in groups, and mark the burial

the course of our researches. [Ten years’ diggings in Celtic and Saxon grave
hills, p. 190. See the Hand book of German Antiquities, Dresden, 1836, p. 94.]
1 Archeological Journal, i., 142—151, 222232. iii., 39—44,.

The English at Home,” by Alphonse Esquiros.

F 2 Wiltshire Magazine, vol. vii., p. 154.

_ 8The prevalence of tumular interments throughout the globe at a remote date
"was universal, showing that all men sprang from one stock, and though dispersed
retained their primitive usages almost unchanged. [See continuation of this
subject in Bateman’s ‘‘Ten years’ diggings in Celtic and Saxon graye-hills :
Introduction. ]
a 4Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 20.

Bak

136 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire,

place of some ancient Briton: numbers of them have been levelled,
many of those which remain haye been sadly mutilated; but some
to this day show astonishing elegance, and the most perfect sym-
metry of form.

It must not however be supposed that every deceased Celt was
honoured with, so elaborate a tomb: to the chiefs only could such
respect be paid:! while the many would be satisfied to be laid in
a trench, and covered with earth; and thus in digging on the
open Down, workmen frequently meet with skeletons, where no
vestige of a tumulus exists. This is especially the-case in my own

parish of Yatesbury, within sight of the famous temple of Avebury ;.

for, like Christians of the present day, the Celts loved to lay their
bones near the temple, hallowed by their worship.

Such is the imperfect sketch of the earliest inhabitants of our
county, which is all that I am able to pourtray : I am aware that
it is but an indistinct outline, and that to some minds the conclu-
sions I have arrived at will seem to be based on insufficient evidence.
I wish it had been otherwise. I wish it had been possible to have
described more accurately and circumstantially the details we all
so much desire to know. I wish it were possible to have brought
the ancient Britons again upon the field, and to have made them
pass in review before my readers. But this was not to be expected.
In dealing with such remote and pre-historic times we cannot look
for much positive and undoubted evidence: we must be content
with such circumstantial testimony, as a fact here, and a fragment
there may supply. We must not then approach such a question
in too disbelieving a frame of mind: caution indeed in admitting
proofs is indispensable, and to jump to conclusions on insufficient
grounds fatal to the cause of historic truth: still it should be
remembered that even prudence may be carried too far, and over-
caution may degenerate into scepticism.

1 Archeological Journal, yol. vi., p. 377.
2Sir R. Hoare’s Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 87. Vol. ii., 64, note, 112. Archezo-
logical Journal, vol. iii. p. 108.

% 187

Che stlerchants of the Staple,

OR THE

— Wool Grade in Gngland in the Olden Time,
: By the Rey. W. H. Jonzs, M.A.

: ;

in were in England, in olden times, five principal, or,
: U) as they were called, staple articles of merchandise,—wool,
wool-fels (or undressed skins), leather, lead, and tin. Three of
these, it will be observed, were the produce of our flocks and
herds. Of these, moreover, the wool-staple, as to us the most
interesting, so, in every respect was the most important. Our com-
_ merce was for many years, we might almost say centuries, confined
_ to the exportation of wool, and on this staple commodity more than
on any other, in its raw or manufactured state, the national wealth
-of England has been founded. Our quaint and witty Prebendary
of Sarum, in his own peculiar way, thus expresses his sense of the
_ value of our trade in wool :—‘ Well might the French ambassador
_ return ‘France, France, France,’ reiterated to every petty title of
4 the King of Spain. And our English ‘wool, wool, wool,’ may

eounterpoise the numerous but inconsiderable commodities of other
countries. I confess a lock thereof is most contemptible, ‘Won
flocei te facio’ passing for an expression of the highest neglect,
but a quantity thereof quickly amounteth to a good valuation.”

- The history of the wool-trade must always have an especial
_ interest in Wiltshire. For, to use Aubrey’s words, “if our nation
in times past was the most famous for the greatest quantity of
‘wool in y* world, this County had the most sheep of any other.”’
‘Its large extent of open plain furnished pasture to the numberless
flocks that browsed upon its surface, and wool became its especial
article of produce and a source of wealth to many of it’s older
‘inhabitants.

i

am
138 The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

And very conscious were our ancestors of the importance and
value of the wool-trade. It is amusing to read in old pamphlets
their exaggerated expressions respecting it. Wool is described as
the flower, the strength, the revenue, the blood of England.
One of their writers sees an interpretation of the Argonautic
expedition by Jason and his companions in search of the Golden
Fleece, in an allegorical description, very natural to the imagi-
native mind of the Greek, of the riches to be derived from trading
in wool.! In England from a very early period wool was next of
all other things to ready money,—the main resource of Kings in
all their difficulties,—the great stake upon all national emergencies.
With subsidies of wool granted during the 13th and 14th centuries
to meet the expenses of foreign wars, even a cursory reader of
English History must be familiar; to one indeed granted in 1340,
consisting amongst other things of “the ninth lamb and the ~
ninth fleece” for the two years then next to come, we owe the ~
compilation of the “ Nonarum Inquisitiones,’ a record not only
interesting but also often useful to the antiquary. On lesser
occasions however than those caused by the costs of foreign wars,
supplies were obtained from a similar source. When Henry II.
became as annalists have it, the benefactor of the citizens of
London and enabled them to build their bridge, he made them a
present of a tax on wool, (a tax, by the way, which they had the
privilege of paying themselves) and this gave rise to the tradition,
that old London Bridge was built on wool-packs. When again
Ceur de Licn got into trouble, and was detained for a time asa _
prisoner by the Emperor Henry VI., the means of paying the —
ransom for the King’s release from captivity, was in part derived
from wool, one year’s growth being Jorrowed (such was the term
employed), from the Abbeys of the Cistercians and other religious
orders. At all events the accounts of Gervase de Aldremanberry, —
Chamberlain of London, towards the close of the 12th century, in —

1The motto appended to the insignia of the order of the ‘‘ Golden Fleece”
instituted in 1420 by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, “‘ Pretium non vile laborum” —
gives colour to the supposition that this order was established at the first as a
recognition of the vast wealth, of which the wool grown in that country was
the procuring cause.

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 139

which are included payments made by merchants for leave to
export wool, &c., and also sundry fines arising from the seizure of
wool attempted to be exported without leave, and payment of
what was customarily due to the Crown, imply that a part.of the
royal revenue, even at this early period, was ordinarily derived
from taxes on wool. The words, therefore, of Sir Edward Coke
are no exaggeration: ‘“ Wool is the worthiest and richest com-
moditie of this kingdome; for divide our native commodities
exported into tenne parts, and that which comes from the sheepe’s
back, is nine parts in value of the tenne, and setteth great numbers
of people on worke.”

It is by no means easy to say to what period we may trace the
commencement of our trade in wool, whether in exporting the
material in its raw or manufactured state. Some manufactures
no doubt were carried on as early as the ninth century, though no
doubt the cloth then made was not only small in quantity but
inferior in quality. We find Charlemagne however, writing to
Offa, King of Mercia, with a complaint that certain woollen
cloths exported from England, were not of the accustomed size.
_ More than a thousand years ago too, we find an English merchant
resident at Marseilles, the same merchant being the father ofa
Bishop; and such men were then known in all the great marts of
the Continent. An article also of the great Charter, as confirmed
in the 9 Henry III., by which the statutable width of broad cloth
is fixed at “two yards within the lists,” implies that for some

years before that date this manufacture was known and practised
in England. Stamford indeed is expressly mentioned as a place

7

where a company of cloth-weavers followed this calling.

Tue EASTERLINGS OF THE STILL-YARD.

The earliest body of men engaged in the wool trade, of whom
_ we have any authentic account, were the “Merchants,” or—as they
are commonly termed—the “ Easterlings of the Still-yard.”?! They

were foreigners who came from Flanders, and to the country east

a — Oe
1Some have thought the word was derived from Stael-hoff, a contraction of
‘Stafel-hof or Stapel-hoff, i.e. a place for keeping merchandize,

140 The Merchants of the Staple, Se.

of it, and hence their name “ Hasterlings.” They made their first
appearance in this country in the time of Henry III., and were
for some years the only exporters of wool. It is said that Henry
III. had been much supported in his wars by the assistance which
he received from the free towns of Germany, in return for which
he gave them great privileges in England. They were made a
Corporation, and lived together in a place called the Sti/-yard or
Still-house, so termed, it is said by some, from their dealing much
in iron and steel, though others give a different derivation of the
word.! For many years they lived a sort of collegiate life in their
house near Bishopsgate, walled in and locked up with strong gates
at night. Half the expense of guarding that gate of the city, and
the whole expense of repairing it, fell on them. They continued a
corporation till 1552, when they were dissolved, because they had
become, it was said, detrimental to England, by engrossing the
whole woollen trade ;—but really in consequence of the jealousy of
another body of merchants of whom I shall presently speak, and
who had become, at that time, numerous, wealthy, and influential.
The ‘“ Easterlings” have left their memorial behind in the word
“Sterling,” which originally referred to the authorised coin manu-
factured by them.?

It is worth a passing remark that another body of merchants who
came over, about the same time as the Easterlings from some of
the Italian republics, sent, it is said, by Pope Gregory IX. in the
capacity of money lenders, for the purpose of advancing loans to
religious houses and private persons, with which to pay the tenths

1See Cunningham’s Hand-book of London under ‘‘Steel-yard” for more
particulars respecting this class of merchants.

2 Arthur Agarde, in a paper printed in Thomas Hearne’s Collection of Curious
Discoveries, says, ‘I suppose the name (Sterling) came by means the Easterlings
from us, being Germaynes, brought up in the mynes of silver and copper there,
were used here in Englaunde for the reducynge and refyninge the diversyte of
coynes into a perfect standarde.” Bailey in his Dictionary (15th edit. 1753)
gives a similar account of the word :—‘‘ SrEruine (so called from Esterlings,
i.e. Prussians or Pomeranians who in old times were artists in fining gold and
silver, and taught it to the Britons), a general name or distinction for the
current lawful money in England.” See also ‘‘ Notes and Queries,” vol. i.,
pp. 384 and 411.

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 141

which were collected in 1229 (13 Henry III.) with great rigour,
have left their memorial behind them in the name of “ Lombard”
Street, where their offices are said to have been.

Tur MeErcHANTsS OF THE STAPLE.

The “ Easterlings” were foreigners, as we have already intimated.
Within a quarter of a century of their settlement in England we
find mention of a class of native merchants, who are commonly
known by the name of “the Merchants of the Staple.”” Those who
profess to have investigated their origin, give us the following
account. They tell us that there was a commercial society known
by the name of “The Merchants of the Staple,” which had its
origin about the year 1248; that it had the regal form of a cor-
poration before the 12th Edward II. (1219), inasmuch as there
are records in the Pipe Office of the Exchequer, which imply that
there was then existing such a corporate body, with the title of
“the Mayor and Constables of the Staple of England,” who then
had their staple at Antwerp, for the sale of English goods, and the
importation of such foreign goods as were wanted at home. They
add, that they were a company trading with a joint-fund, sanctioned
by Charter, and supported by peculiar and exclusive privileges.
And Henry, in his “ History of Great Britain,” after endorsing
the above opinions, details the objects for which such a company
was established. It was instituted, he says, “to answer these two
ends :—Ist, To purchase and collect ali that could be spared of the

chief commodities of the kingdom; which were these five :—wool,
wool-fels, leather, lead, and tin; and convey them to certain towns
which were called staple towns, that the king’s customs might be
collected with ease, and that foreign merchants might know where
to find these commodities in sufficient quantities. 2nd, To export
these staple wares to foreign countries, and to import returns for
them in goods, coin, or bullion.”

Wins ae al ae alle eal

He adds, “Natives as well as foreigners might be and were
_ employed in executing the first of these ends, but no natives of
_ England, Ireland, or Wales, could be concerned directly or indi-

rectly in exporting any of these commodities.” How far subsequent

142 The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

investigation has supported the correctness of these views will
form a subject for discussion in a future page.

Tue Mercuant ADVENTURERS.

“A third class of merchants who were called at first the ‘ Fra-
ternity,’ or ‘Brotherhood’ of St. Thomas a Beckett, sprung up at
the close of the 13th century. They were afterwards—though not,
I believe, till the reign of Henry VII.—called ‘Merchant Adven-
turers.’ They are said to have arisen as early as 1296, from the
guild of mercers in London. They are distinguished from ‘the
Merchants of the Staple,’ in this respect—that they traded not in
wool and raw material, but in cloth, or the wool in its manufactured
state. These are said to have begun to trade in cloth towards the
close of the reign of Edward I. They obtained certain privileges
from John, Duke of Brabant, and fixed their staple or principal
market at Antwerp. Subsequent privileges conceded to them by
Louis, Count of Flanders, in 1358, took them to Bruges. Their
first charter was granted to them in 1406, when they were incor-
porated under the name of the ‘Fraternity of Saint Thomas
a Beckett.’ In the middle of the 15th century we find them again
at Antwerp, the trade brought thither by them laying the founda-
tion of the greatness of that city. It is necessary to bear in mind
their distinctive character, in order to understand many of the enact-
ments contained in our statute books, and also several matters
connected with the gradual decay of the ‘Merchants of the Staple,’
between whom and the ‘Merchant Adventurers’ there was long
continued rivalry.

Of these three classes of merchants, the first were foreigners, or
(as they are commonly designated) ‘strangers’ or ‘aliens ;’» when
naturalized in England, or enfranchised by royal charter or dona-
tion they are called ‘denizens.’ The other two classes consisted,
in the first instance at least, wholly of natives. In later times the
lines of demarcation between the several classes became much less
distinct, but still without remembering what they originally were,
we shall have no little difficulty in understanding many of the
earlier enactments concerning wool.” :

7"

.

a Se

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 143

Our principal concern, as Wiltshire archeologists, is with the
second of these classes of traders,—the ‘‘ Merchants of the Staple,”
many of whom flourished in our County, and have left behind
them tokens not only of their worldly abundance, but of their
willingness to devote it to good and noble purposes. Of the origin
of the word from which they derived their distinctive appellation,
there are several opinions. - Sir Edward Coke, no mean authority,
who wrote 250 years ago, says:—‘“ The word ‘staple’ anciently
written ‘estaple’ cometh of the French word ‘estape,’ which signi-
fieth a mart or market.” Jacob, in his Law Dictionary, after
giving the same derivation, quotes as an indirect testimony in its
favour from an old French book, ‘a Calais estape de la laine:” he
suggests, however, a derivation from the German word “ stapulen”
which signifies to gather or heap anything together: referring to
the store of merchandise collected at such markets or staples.
Anderson, in his “ History of Commerce” suggests its derivation
from the Latin,—“ staple” he-says, is in the civil law Latin of the
times termed “ stabile emporium,” i.e. a fixed port or mart for im-
porting of merchandise. Mr. Duke has an ingenious hypothesis
that it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “ stape/,” which he
_ onceives may signify “a loop of iron, to receive a hasp or bolt ;”
or, in short, a padlock. He conjectures that the merchandise on
which duty was payable to the Crown, was bonded and secured in
: warehouses under the regal fastening, perhaps peculiarly marked,

under the lock and key, secured by what might be called em-
‘phatically the staple—the king’s staple.’ I cannot find, however,
that he is justified in giving such a meaning to the Anglo-Saxon
word as he would wish.' But after all the simplest explanation of
the term, which, used in reference to the traders in wool, is

_ 1Mr. Duke points out that in one form of the ‘‘ merchant’s mark” of John
_ Halle of Salisbury there is something which seems like a hasp or fastening
represented. This however would prove no more than that it was a “ pleasant
eonceit” of his respectable yet somewhat litigious friend. To me the device in
question would seem rather like a rude outline of the initial letter in his sur-
name. In the other form of his ‘‘ mark” as seen in the stained glass of the
hall of John Halle at Salisbury the lower part is clearly a monogram of the
initials ‘J, H.”

144 °* The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

employed only in a secondary sense to its original import, would seem
to be the following. In olden times, when no other means were
at hand, one way of marking boundaries was by placing a stone or
wooden pillar at the point to be indicated. This was called in
Anglo-Saxon stapo/ which is frequently in the form “staple” found
as a component part of the names of places. Thus in its primary
signification we have it in such words as Stapie-Forp which is
the ford by the staple or pillar set up to mark the boundary of the
manor, and SrapLE-Hiti the name of a hill at Westwood across
which runs the border of Wilts and Somerset. It next came to
denote a land-mark generally, and in this sense it is used in such a
word as SrapLe-THorn, that is a thorn serving as a point of
boundary just as the customary “staple.” In time it became a custom
to erect such stone pillars in the midst of villages and towns to
mark the place where men might congregate for the purpose of
transacting business, and the village “staple’’ was afterwards
The remains of the Staple- Cross
at Burton, some two miles from Christ Church in Hampshire, are
still in existence. In ancient days when the privilege of holding
a market was ceded to any town or village it often had the name
of “Staple” or “Steeple” prefixed to it. Hence the names STEEPLE
‘Asuton and SteerLe Lavineton, the latter place being also called
Market Lavineron. From the less to the greater the step was
not difficult. The principal place in London for the sale of wool
the chief article of commerce in ancient times was in Holborn,

. developed into the “ market cross.”

near what is now called SrapLes Inn. The principal articles of
commerce, from being sold thus came to be called “ Staple articles,”
and they who dealt in them were in due time called Mercuants oF
THE STAPLE.

We have already intimated that some manufactures of cloth
existed in our country from an early period, without doubt up to
nearly the middle of the 14th century, by far the greater part of
our English wool was exported into Flanders, there to be wrought
into cloth. The words of Matthew of Westminster (who flourished
about 1350) that “all the world was clothed from English wool
wrought in Flanders are an exaggeration, but still they are a

ee ee ee

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 145

_ striking testimony of the extent at that time, of the wool trade in
England and the activity of the Flemish weavers. It was, in fact,
the great demand for English wool in Flanders, Artois, and Bra-
bant, that led, to one place on the continent being fixed upon as
the “staple” or market for its sale. In the time of Edward II.
it was probably fixed at Antwerp (about 1312); and a few years
afterwards in (1320) several places are named in England as those
from which it might be exported ; the object of these enactments
being, of course, the collection, with the greater facility, of the
customs due to the Crown.

There is room for doubting the accuracy of the opinions already
referred to as to the Merchants of the Staple being an associated and
trading company, properly so called, with considerable and exclusive
privileges belonging to them. Mr. Duke combats these views and |
certainly not without a good show of reason. He holds that the
Merchants of the Staple were a class of men rather than the
members of any particular guild, and by the term itself understands

_generally any persons who traded in any or all of the staple articles
of merchandize at any of the “staples” or public markets where
they were appointed to be collected and sold. It was open, he
thinks, to any man who was possessed of sufficient capital for the
enterprize to become such a merchant, but before he was recognized

and duly accredited as such, he was obliged to take an oath to
maintain the laws of the “staple.” Without doubt most of such
men, perhaps all, were members of some “ guild ;”’—a corporation

_ of this kind existing in every town! or place of importance ;—and

the fact that writers in speaking of these merchants, do not designate

‘them as belonging to any “company ”’ of the staple, but of some

other company, of which, even though ignorant of the craft for

the furtherance of which such guild was established, they were

- members, gives additional weight to the probable truth of Mr.

Duke’s opinion. It must be remembered also that the Merchants

——S eee ee |
. ;

_ +The charter for the Tailor’s Guild at Sarum which is still in existence, and -
is - nicely illuminated, was obtained by William Swayne, whose ‘“ Merchant’s
‘Mar ” may be seen in St. Thomas’ Church, where he foundeda Chantry. The
hall of the same Guild is still standing though ruinous.

‘VOL. 1X.—NO. XXVI. M

146 The Merchants of the Staple, &.

of the Staple never had a “ Hall” or particular office of their own,
as was always the case with other large companies.! Some of their
warehouses were, in olden times, situated in Holborn and from
this circumstance the Inn of Chancery, called Staples Inn, derives
its name.

The great object, as has been already intimated, of an establish-
ment of a “staple” was the collection with greater facility of the
customs due to the Crown. The royal revenues were derived
anciently from duties levied upon exports. Sir W. Blackstone’s
account of these duties is as follows :—that they were deemed the
hereditary customs of the Crown and were due on the exportation
of wool, wool-fels, and leather, which three articles were styled
staple commodities, because they were obliged to be brought to
those parts where the King’s staple was established in order to be
first rated and then exported. ‘These dues,” he says, “were
denominated in the barbarous Latin of our ancient records, ‘ cus-
tuma’ and not ‘consuetudines’ which is the language of our law,
whenever it means merely usages. The export duties on wool,
wool-fels, and leather were called ‘custuma antiqua sive magna,’ and
were payable by every merchant, as well native as stranger, with
this difference, that merchant strangers paid an additional toll,
viz., half as much again as was paid by natives. The ‘custuma
parva et nova’ were an impost of 3d. in the pound, due from mer-
vhant strangers only.” It was not indeed without difficulty that
the Crown was able in these early days to establish a prescriptive
right to these “customs.” The first formal grant of them by
Parliament was made in 1274 (3 Edw. 1.), at the rate of halfa
mark, or 6s. 8d., for every sack of wool of 26 stone weight, and of
a whole mark, or 13s. 4d. for every last of leather. When however
in 1296, some twenty years subsequently, the King, then in need
of money for prosecuting his wars with France and Scotland, by
his own authority set a new toll of 40s. on each sack of wool, the

1Thus Sir John Crosby the builder of a beautiful hall which still remains in
Bishopsgate Street, London, is in deeds commonly styled ‘‘ Alderman and
Grocer:” his business however was that of a ‘‘ Wool-Merchant;” in other
words he was a ‘‘ Merchant of the Staple.”

pee Soy TE vee
4 . *,

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 147

commonalty felt aggrieved and petitioned against this new impo-
sition. The result of their remonstrances was important, and not
a little interesting as connected with the history of wool. Whilst
they gave their sanction to those dues which custom had authorized
and thus fully recognized them as part of the hereditary revenues
of the Crown, they obtained an acknowledgment on the part of
the King that no additional taxes could be levied without their
consent. They procured, in fact, a solemn re-affirmation of one of
the chief articles of Magna Charta, viz.: that the Crown could not
levy taxes without the consent of the people. Reluctantly conceded
in the first instance by King John, this provision was thought to
bear so hardly on the royal prerogative, that on the confirmation
of the Charter, in the 1 Henry III., it had been reserved for future
consideration, and both that monarch and his son Edward I. con-
trived for awhile to keep it in abeyance by delays and evasions.
But in 1296, on the occasion above alluded to of the dispute
concerning the taxes on wool, the point was fully yielded. Even
in our own days the Commons think not lightly of the privilege

still jealously retained in their own hands, of holding the purse-
strings of the nation. It was a right of far greater importance
when war was indeed the “malady of Kings.” By investing the
people with the sole right of raising the supplies, it armed them
with the power of checking the extravagance and controlling the
despotism of their monarchs.

The Crown was not slow in availing itself of the rigkts which
were conceded to it. Custwmers were appointed for the several
ports from which wool was permitted to be exported, and it was

their duty to see that the King received all that was fairly owing
to him. Amongst other things the Mayor of London and other
citizens, in obedience to a royal command, had a scale made for the
weighing of wools, which they afterwards brought to the Barons
of the Exchequer with the assurance that it had been examined
and approved by the scale (or ham) which was used for weighing
_wools in London. The Treasurer and Barons straightway delivered
the same to the Commissioners of the King’s customs of wools and
leathers at the port of Len, and together with it, in a purse sealed
é M2

148 The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

with the Exchequer seal, the seals appointed to be used by the said
“‘ Custumers”’ for the Cocket in customing the wools and leathers
at Len. This occurred in the 26 Edw. L., and shortly afterwards,
in 1298; the same King after releasing to the community of the
realm the subsidy of 40s, per sack of wool, which had been granted
the year before for a limited period in aid of the war with France,
directed the ‘ Custodes”’ of his said customs to forbear receiving
the same, and also commanded the Sheriffs of the several counties
to make proclamation in their Bailywicks, “That all Merchants
and others who designed to export Wools, Wool-fels, and Leathers
might safely carry them to the several ports where the King had
a Cocket, paying the old duties, viz.: half a mark for every sack of
wool.” By “ Cocket”’ is meant a seal belonging to the King’s
Custom-house, or rather a scroll of parchment sealed and delivered
by the officers of the custom-house to merchants as a warrant that
‘their merchandizes are customed.” In medieval Latin, “ Cocketta
Lana” is wool duly sealed and authorized to be exported. There
is in the British Museum a very fine specimen of one of the royal
seals used for this purpose at Norwich in the time of Edw. I. It
has on one side ‘“ Pro Lanis ET CORCIS LIBERANDIs;” on the other
“SieittuMm Epwarpr Recis AncLiz apup Norwicum.”

“ The foreign staple was fixed at Antwerp at the commencement
of the 14th century. The ruling powers on the Continent were
soon convinced of its importance to themselves, and hence we find
several of them making request that it may be fixed in their —
dominions. In 1814, at the solicitation of Louis X., a ‘staple’ was
established at St. Omer’s. Shortly afterwards Robert Earl of
Flanders writes to our Second Edward acquainting him of peace
between himself and the King of France, and asking that it might
be at Bruges. It was, however, in the reign of Edward III. that
the most important steps were taken, and enactments framed, con-
cerning the staple of wool. For no sooner did that prince ascend
the throne of England than a statute was passed, which is not a
little remarkable in its character, because entirely contrary to the
policy hitherto adopted. By the 2nd Edward III., ch. 9, (1328) it
is enacted that all ‘the staples beyond the sea, and on this side,

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 149

ordained by Kings in times past, and the pains thereupon provided
shall cease, and that all merchants, strangers, and privy, may go
and come with their merchandises into England, after the tenor of
the Great Charter.’ It is difficult now to say what was the special
inducement to so bold a step, but followed up instantly by another
by which Edward gains to himself the proud title of ‘the Father
of English Commerce,’ we may well conjecture that he hoped
thereby to attract traders from all parts to his dominions, and pro-
bably also, to draw them off from France, between which country
and England there had now for some years existed a spirit of rivalry,
soon destined to assume a more hostile character. The cities of
Flanders and Brabant were at the time agitated with intestine dis-
sensions. The vexatious restraints incessantly imposed upon their
commerce, and the frequent wars which desolated the low countries,
were a strong inducement to many of the Flemish operators to
take refuge in other countries, where without any of these hindran-
ces they might pursue their peaceful occupations. Edward invited
several of these men to England with the promise of many privi-
‘leges. The Flemings acceded to the King’s invitation, and few
documents are more really interesting than one included in Rymer’s
_Feedera (iv., 4961), by which, in 13831, Edward grants protection
to ‘John Kemp’ (the name is still well known in Wilts) described

as a ‘weaver of woollen cloths,’ Textor pannorum laneorum from

Flanders, and in which he also promises like protection to fullers and

dyers who may come to England from the same parts. It was
by this document that the real foundation was laid of the woollen

manufacture in England, for the cloth woven before this time, was

not only very small in quantity, but also inferior in quality.

Looking calmJy on the past at a distance of more than 500 years,
_ and seeing now the marvellous extent and excellence of our woollen
_ manufactures, we may well believe that, as far as lasting benefit
was concerned, the inducing these Flemish refugees to settle in his
dominions, was an infinitely greater triumph than two vanquished
Kings held as prisoners in London.” The victories of Crécy and
a oictiers, with all the prowess of the Black Prince, were barren of

result, in comparison with this introduction of foreign manufactures
nto England.

'

\

aC
rt

150 The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

The important measure of releasing wool from all export duties,
seems, for a time at least, to have produced results, which needed
for their correction a statute of rather an opposite tendency.
Possibly the allowing unlimited free-trade in wool may have led to
so large an exportation of it from England that there was not
sufficient material left in the kingdom with which to carry on the
home manufacture. Hence in 1338 a statute was passed which
altogether forbad the exportation of wool, and allowed none within
the realm, save the Royal Family, to wear any cloth that was not
made in England, Ireland, Wales or Scotland. And yet further,
whilst it was forbidden for any cloth made beyond the seas to be
brought into England, free invitation was given to “all cloth-
workers of strange lands of whatsoever country they might be,” to
come within the realm and dwell where they chose, the King
promising to grant franchises as many and such as might suffice
them. Meanwhile, moreover, we find a foreign staple re-established
at Antwerp in 1386, the quarrel with France, in which for a time
the Earl of Flanders leagued against England, preventing it being
fixed in the dominions of either of those sovereigns. No long time
afterwards, however we find itat Bruges. On the surrender of Calais
in 1347, we find that town chosen, for obvious reasons, as empha-
tically the foreign staple of England. Not only was that place
most easy of access from this country, but, whilst it opened the
door to the trade of France, it was by no means an inconvenient
‘‘staple” for the merchants of Flanders and the Low Countries,
Moreover in the time of Edward III. when England had large
territorial possessions in the south of France, and the Black Prince
for some years held his court at Bordeaux, it was most important
that such a port as Calais should be in the hands of England. It
was, no doubt, for this reason, that Edward, immediately on the
fall of Calais, banished the French and peopled it exclusively with
English inhabitants. And ever afterwards, whilst it belonged to
this country, it ‘was governed by Englishmen and by English
laws, some particular customs excepted. Of a judgment given
there a writ of error did lye retornable into the King’s Bench.
Children born there were inheritable in England. . . . .and

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 151

there the King had his mint in such manner as in the Tower of
London.”’!

Within a few years of the foreign staple being fixed at Calais a
most important Act was passed (27 Edw. III.) which is commonly
called “The Statute of the Staple.” It was hereby enacted, in
consequence (as the preamble sets forth) ‘‘of the notorious damage
that hath notoriously come. . . . . to the realm of England
because that the Staple was holden out of the said realm, and also
for the great profit which should come to the said realm if the
Staple were holden within the same,” that the staple should be
held at certain towns in England. The towns named in the first
instance were Newcastle-on-Tyne, York, Lincoln, Norwich, West-
minster, Canterbury, Chichester, Winchester, Exeter and Bristol.
In Acts of this, or subsequent reigns, other towns are added to
this list, or substituted for some of the first-named places :—South-
ampton, for instance, or “ Hampton” as it was then called, in the
time of Edw. IV. took the place of Winchester. In another
section of this ‘“‘ Statute of the Staple”—(there are no less than
29 sections in all)—certain ports are specified as those from which
commodities might be exported, this last privilege however being
allowed to Merchants Strangers only, it being decreed felony for
any English Merchant to export wool. At each town moreover
where the staple was appointed to be held, there were also to be
elected a Mayor of the Staple and two Constables, in a similar
manner as at Calais, their duty consisting in seeing that the laws
and customs of the Staple were maintained. Every Merchant too
repairing to the same, was required to take an oath to maintain

-- the Staple, and the laws and customs thereof. The Mayor of the
Staple in each Town was elected annually by the commonalty of the
merchants who traded at that place: he was eligible for re-election,

q but could not it is believed, hold office for more than two successive
years. His duty was to keep the peace, to arrest offenders in the
Staple for debt, trespasses, and other contracts, to put them into
; » Prison and punish them after the law of, the Staple. He held a
4 court in which he heard and decided on all pleas relating to the

1 Sir Edward Coke.

152 The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

Staple, according to the “law-merchant.” In the smaller Towns,
the Mayor of the Staple was somewhat similar in authority and
jurisdiction to the “ Port-gerefa” or “ Port Reeve, the chief officer
of some of the lesser and commercial Towns, a principal part of
whose office consisted in witnessing transactions by bargain and
sale. In the more important places, such as Westminster, (raised
it is said by the affect of this “Statute of the Staple” from a village

to a populous town) and Calais, the office conferred much honor "

and was the object of much ambition. The post at Calais was held
by a succession of distinguished English merchants. Thus in
1442, John Thrusk, a merchant who dwelt in Hungate, in the city
of York, was both Mayor and Treasurer of the Staple at Calais.
Some twenty years afterwards the office was held by Sir Richard

Yorke who was also at the same time one of. the Sheriffs of the —

city of York. It was this last-named Knight that in the account
of Archbishop Neville’s enthronization feast in 1466, contained in
an old roll cited in Leland’s Collectanea, is represented, (in virtue
of his office, we may presume) as taking precedence of the “‘ Mayor
of Yorke” and “all the worshipfull men of the said citie.” May
we not regard this fact as an indirect testimony to the sense enter-
tained towards the close of the fifteenth century, that the true way
of increasing England’s wealth and consolidating her power, was
not so much by the aggressive achievements of her armies, as by
the peaceful extension of her commerce.

Of course our information concerning the staple is derived, from
the Statute Book and other public documents. When we see a
collection of various enactments concerning it, we are not a little
amused at their opposite, sometimes even contradictory character.
Taken by themselves they seem a strange jumble of inconsistency
some of them apparently the effect of simple caprice. At one time,
for example, we have a sweeping measure ordering all Staples to
cease; six years afterwards the staple is at Antwerp; in ten years
more no wool is permitted to be exported at all. No long time
elapses and a staple is fixed at Bruges; seven years subsequently
at Calais. Then certain Towns and Calais are made simultaneously
the places of the Staple. And during those two centuries in which

a a ee

ee Oe eee

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 153

Calais formed part of the possessions of England, it is singular to
remark the continually shifting policy observed respecting that
Town. In 1348 it was established as the foreign Staple of England ;

~ in a few years afterwards the Staple was removed from Calais alto-
gether. In 1363 it is again the Staple,—five years only pass away and
it ceases to be so. Larly in the reign of Richard II. the staple is
once more at Calais, but in the 14th year of his reign it is again
removed. In 1423 (2 Henry VI.) it is re-established at Calais,
and that town was not only confirmed as the foreign staple, but a
protecting statute made it felony to carry wool elsewhere. On the
termination of the wars of the Roses and the accession of Edward
IV., we have a renewed confirmation of Calais as the staple con-
currently with the appointment of sundry towns in England, the
privilege of exporting wool to France being at the same time taken
away from aliens. The foreign staple seems, from this date, to

have remained at Calais, until, in the reign of Mary, the town
ceased to belong to England.

Similar observations may be made with regard to the privileges
granted or denied, from time to time, to the merchants who traded
in these staple articles. In the 2 Edw. III., the trade was thrown

| open to all,—natives, denizens, or foreigners: in the 11th year of
the same reign, the ports were closed to all and no wool permitted
to be carried out of the kingdom. In the 15th year there is a
re-establishment of free-trade; in the 27th foreigners or aliens
__may export wool, but natives are strictly forbidden to do so; in the

48rd the privilege is again conceded to all. Shortly afterwards, in
14 Rich. II., the foreigners are again favored at the expense of
E _ the native merchants. In a little more than 70 years, after several
- enactments limiting the exportation of wool to Calais, except under
licences specially granted by the Crown, followed shortly by
_ another by which all licences whatsoever are withdrawn, we have
an Act of opposite tendency by which, 2 Edw. IV., aliens are
a prohibited altogether from exporting wool. So unsettled seem, at
the first blush, to have been the notions that prevailed as to the
" - policy by which the interests of England would be best consulted.
¥ _ At this distance of time it is hardly within our power to unravel

154 The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

this web of apparent inconsistency, or to explain the motives which
led, from time to time, to enactments so opposite in their tendency.
Possibly an attentive study of the details of English History, not
as we have it in the pages of Hume or Lingard, who can deal only
with its great and leading features, but in the compilations of
Chroniclers and Annalists who dwell upon its minor incidents
might enable us to give probable reasons for many of them.
Sometimes the necessity of removing the staple from the dominions
or neighbourhood of a hostile state,—sometimes the wish to take
reprisals on a rival power,—sometimes the desire to conciliate
Joreign merchants whose help was needed in raising funds for
special exigencies of state,—sometimes the necessity of yielding to
the demands of an influential class of native merchants or manu-
facturers ;—sometimes the importance of arousing the dormant
genius of the country, and making men, for their own advantage,
depend more on their own resources ;—sometimes even a private
pique,—have led within but a short space of time to conflicting
enactments. Indeed, it is said that to the last motive we owe the
most important of all the Acts that were passed, viz., “‘ The Statute
of the Staple.” It was in consequence of the displeasure of Edw.
III. with the Flemings, because the proposed match between their
young Earl and his daughter was broken off, that the staple was
removed from Bruges and settled finally in several English towns.
Imperfect as were their notions in political economy, it was cer-
tainly more than chance that dictated this contradictory policy.
The history of wool is indeed one of those subjects, which, when at
all deeply studied, seems to gather up into itself whole masses of
inferior events. Read side by side with the history of our country,
as in some sort a running Commentary, it often supplies us with an
interpretation of matters in themselves sufficiently puzzling, and
discloses to us many a glimpse of the inner life and social progress
of England during the 14th and two following centuries.

And this would seem to be the most appropriate place in which
to say a few words concerning the “Merchants of the Staple”
themselves, and of some of the more famous of them who flourished
in Wiltshire. Of their general character, we have an accurate

ae a

PRY re

By the Rev. W. H, Jones. 155

‘and vivid description in Mr. Duke’s “‘ Halle of John Halle.” He
gives us there a sketch of a worthy of this class, who lived, at a
time when they were in the greatest authority, in the reign of
Edw. IV. The son of a respected member of the corporate body
of Salisbury,—inheriting probably a fair portion of this world’s
wealth,—engaving as a capitalist in the wool-trade,—elected in due
time to the common council,—there rising to the dignity of Alder-
man,—in due time appointed to the office of Mayor and chosen as
representative in Parliament for the city of Salisbury ;—such is a
brief sketch of the career of Mr. Duke’s hero “John Halle,”—
such probably would be the history of many of his brother-mer-
chants. 1t became a proverb “ Riches follow the staple,” and the
‘‘bayliffe’s of the realme” (as the merchants were often called)
found such to be the case, to the satisfaction doubtless of many of
their descendants even at the present day. As an almost natural
result followed high, sometimesnoble, connexions,—families founded;
—in more than a few instances, coronets obtained. Many a token
have they left behind them of their readiness to dispense with a
ready hand a portion of the wealth thus accumulated. Everywhere.
in our own county have we churches built or enlarged,—chantries
endowed,—alms-houses established,—all testifying to the generosity
of the merchants of the staple. And Aubrey in his MS. gives us
a list of men in other counties, of more than one of whom he says
that he “gave a great masse of money” to some act of piety or
charity, or for the promotion of some work of public benefit.
TeruMBeR the founder of a chantry and also of alms-houses at
_ Trowbridge, both now things of the past ;—Horron whose name is
identified with the churches of both Bradford on Avon and West-
wood ;—Lone the builder of the North, Lucas the builder of the
South aisle of the beautiful church at Steeple Ashton ;—Swayne
whose name is inseparably connected with the church of St. Thomas
at Salisbury ;—and then somewhat later the “ Yerberrys,”’ whose
descendants still live in Bradiord on Avon, many of whom were
generous benefactors of the poor,—all these (and many others
_ might be mentioned) were connected in olden times with the wool-
trade. And frequently have the descendants of such merchants

156 The Merchants, of the Staple, &.

risen to exalted positions. Of “J ohn Halle’s” two children, his
daughter, Christian, married Sir Thomas Hungerford ;—his son
William’s only daughter and heir married Thomas Wriothesly,
Garter. Principal King of Arms, and his family (he dying without
issue) became ennobled in the person of his nephew, Thomas, Lord
Wriothesley, of Titchfield in the county of Southampton. Webb,
who, according to Aubrey, together with “John Halle” bought
up all the wool of Salisbury Plain is still represented by the
Baronets of Odstock. Greville and Wenman whom Aubrey speaks
of as buying up all the Coteswold wool, in fact as the great mer-
chants of Gloucestershire, are both now represented by ennobled
descendants. One of the early members of the Greville family is
described as the “ flower of wool-merchants of all England;” his
descendant Fulke Greville married the heiress of Lord Willoughby
de Broke, and their son was created Lord Brooke, of Brooke House

in the parish of Westbury, Wilts, a title now held conjointly with -

that of Warwick, by the Earl of Brooke and Warwick. The
family of Wenman were ennobled in a subsequent age under the
same name, and in 18384 the title was revived, in a descendant in
the female line, by the creation of Baroness Wenman, of Thame
Park, in Oxfordshire. From Stump of Malmesbury, the host on
one occasion of King Henry VIII., and the original grantee of the
Abbey, the preservation of which from utter ruin we probably owe
to him, descend some of our principal nobility. His only daughter
married Sir Henry Knyvett, and their two daughters became, the
one, Countess of Suffolk, the other, Countess of Lincoln. And
Camden tells us that at the commencement of the 17th century a
clothier named “ Abbot” had three sons, each of whom, at the
same time, filled high and honourable offices :—George Abbot was
Archbishop of Canterbury ;—-~Robert Abbot was Bishop of Salisbury ;
Sir Maurice Abbot was Lord Mayor of London.

Returning now to the regular course of our narrative, we find
that the loss of Calais in 1558 deprived England of her foreign

staple. None was afterwards established. Indeed, by the middle

of the 16th century the home manufactures had so increased, that
a proportionate diminution took place in the quantity of wool

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 157

earried out of the kingdom. Gael exportation of the raw material
was freely permitted during the reign of Elizabeth. From this
time the merchants of the staple cease to be a distinctive class and
are merged in the merchant adventurers or in the clothiers. For
instance, it is no uncommon thing in Aubrey’s manuscripts to meet
with the names of distinguished ‘Clothiers’? spoken of as also
“Merchants of the Staple.” The influence of those who were
specially interested in the home manufactures, after leading, in
1552, to the dissolution of the company of the Easterlings of the
Still-yard, procured afterwards a series of enactments in their own
favor, to the detriment of those who were the exporters of the raw
material. For a little time cloths were sent white to Holland to
be dyed, but even this foreign trade was stopped at the beginning
of the 17th century, when men well skilled in that art were brought
from that country into England. |
The manufacturers still complained, and, supported by the
Merchant Adventurers, obtained, in 1660, an Act by which the
exportation of English wool was strictly forbidden, and this Act
retained its place in the Statute book for no less than 165 years.
So great an accumulation of wool was the unavoidable consequence
of this Statute, that within 30 years of its coming into operation,
~ another Act was passed, with the view of forcing a consumption of
it, by which it was ordained that all persons should be buried in
woollen shrouds. And this last Act was not repealed till the year
_ 1825! Inserted carefully among Aubrey’s MSS. in the Ashmolean
at Oxford you will find a pamphlet on the subject of “wool,” in
the course of which the expediency of this same Act of Parliament
is fully discussed. John Aubrey though, with that penetration
__ which despite of his puerilities he undoubtedly had, he puts forth
a query, “ Whether it would not be better to export wool to the
staple as in olden times;”’ nevertheless pays evident deference to
_ the opinions of the author of this little treatise. A short extract
or two will shew you the nature of its argument :—‘I shall now ”
‘" says its author, “ wind up with that Act of Parliament made some
’ years since for the burying in woollen: and he that will but read
_ that Act may very well satisfy himself that the Parliament were

158 ’ The Merchants of the Staple, &c.

sufficiently sensible of the great loss we were like to be at, if some
way or other were not found out to consume our wool; and certainly
they were worthy patriots for their country, that first moved for
and afterwards pursued it to an Act, however it hath not been
received or obeyed as it worthily deserved. We will therefore
examine and give some guess how much wool might have been
buried since that Act of Parliament was first made, without any
disparagement to the dead, or to the surviving friends of the
deceased, and we shall find that a very great quantity of the wool
now in the kingdom out of cloth, had been at this day under
ground.” He then goes into a calculation of the average number
of deaths per annum and the quantity of wool required to carry
out the provisions of this Act of Parliament and comes to this
conclusion :—“ In every ten years we shall spend in this way about
twenty hundred pounds of wool with this advantage to our poor,
that it is first made into cloth. So that had that Act of Parliament
been duly observed, as it was our interest to do, we may plainly
perceive what quantity of wool we had by this time buried in our
kingdom. We should not only spend an incredible quantity of our
own wool manufactured by ourselves, but save above three-score
thousand Pounds sterling of our money which we lay. out for Linen-
cloth purposely for that use; equivalent to a story of one of our
kings who finding a great glut of cloth in the kingdom beyond
their vent and trade for it, bought it and caused it all to be burnt.
And the Dutch, those subtle tradefs, as it is generally reported of
them, where their ships are freighted with their spices in the
East Indies for that year’s provision into Europe, they return the
rest in smoak, by causing the over plus to be burnt at their own
factories: so that the consumption of every growth of our wool is
of absolute necessity towards the improvement of our rents and for
the recovering that third or fourth part of the real value of our
kingdom, now lost since the fall and low price thereof.”

Forty years have not yet passed since this Act, thus gravely
defended, was repealed. We smile oftentimes, as we read of the
ever changing policy, oscillating hither and thither, at the whim
as it seems, of the ruling powers,—of the strange, short-sighted

Pet

ts 0"; oe ae

Notes on the Flora of Silbury Hiil. 159

expedients adopted by our ancestors under the idea of forwarding
the national interests.
‘¢Quid vides? mutato nomine, de te
Fabula narratur.”

Certainly we of the nineteenth century, with all our presumed
light and knowledge, must yet wait a little while, ere we criticise
too minutely what we are ready enough to deem the bungling
legislation of the days of the Plantagenets.'

Hotes on the Flora of Silbury Bill.
By J. Buckman, F.L.S., F.G.S., &e., Professor of Botany and Geology.

(@=GHE interesting artificial mound known as Silbury Hill, has

ie) ‘been.so fully examined by the antiquary, that little remains

to be done; but as Natural History forms part of the studies of the

Sa Wilts Society, I purpose making a few observations from this point
of view.

The mound from its size is justly entitled to the name of Hill,
and yet there can be no doubt that its present aspect is due to
artificial means. In all probability the base is of the chalk rock in
situ, while the upper part was formed from the material removed
in levelling the plain from which it so boldly rises; and so flat is
the surrounding soil that it forms an irrigated meadow, which is

_ remarkable for its pure grass herbage, which both in quantity,
quality and early maturity can scarcely be surpassed. The
stream from which the irrigating waters are supplied is constantly
dry in summer, owing to the porosity of the chalk strata; a geolo-
gical condition which has given rise to the Wiltshire name of
Winterbourne, or winter brook, from the circumstance that it is
only in the wet season that the strata afford sufficient water to
_ require or form rivalets for the drainage of its soil.

“1 The Editors regret that owing to the serious illness of the author, they have
_ not had the advantage of his corrections in passing this paper through the press,

a

160 Notes on the Flora of Siibury Hill.

Standing out then as does Silbury Hill from a small valley
occupied by Meadow, in which the Alopecurus pratensis, Meadow
Foxtail is the prevailing grass, it struck me at the period of my
visit in July 16, 1857, that the botany of the mound was sufhi-
ciently remarkable to make it desirable that I should make a list
of the plants which I then found there.

The following list therefore—though confessedly rpc Seen
yet serve to give some idea of the Flora of Silbury Hill in the
month of July. Of course the list would be much augmented by
explorations in spring and autumn, which, besides enlarging the
list of the ordinary flowering plants, would make it possible to
tabulate the whole of the grasses.

Now in the list I have omitted the grasses, but it may be
remarked that the hill may be said to be covered by a poor kind of
turf: its grass herbage being small in quantity arising from want
of soil, but yet made up of numerous species. It is however just
this circumstance of a want of luxuriance in the grass which has
made such a large and varied list as here follows possible, for
wherever grass herbage is luxuriant there will be a proportional
diminution both in the number of species of other plants, as also
with few exceptions in the development of their mass.

List oF PLANTS OBSERVED oN SiLBurRy HI,
on JuLy 16rn, 1857.

*Anthyllis vulneraria, L.

Apargia hispida, Willd.
*Arabis hirsuta, Br.
*Asperula cynanchica, L.

Bellis perennis, L.

Bunium flexuosum, With.
*Camparula glomerata, L.
33 rotundifolia, L

Centaurea nigra, L.
ss seabiosa, L.

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L,

Daucus carota, L.
*Euphrasia officinalis, L.
Galium saxatile, L.
» verum, L.
*Gentiana amarella, L.

Ladies fingers.
Rough Hawkbit.
Hairy rock Cress
Squinaney wort
Daisy.

Pig, or Earth nut.
Clustered bell flower,
Harebell,
Blackhead.
Hardhead.
Ox-eye Daisy.
Wild Carrot.
Eye-bright.

Stone Bedstraw.
Yellow Bedstraw.

Small flowered Gentian.

tdi ante

By J. Buckman, Esq. 161

*

Helianthemum vulgare, Gert. Rock Rose,

Hieracium pilosella, L. Hairy Hawkweed.
Jasione montana, L. Sheep’s-bit.
Linum catharticum, L. Purging Flax.
Lotus corniculatus, L. Bird’s-foot Trefoil.
Medicago lupulina, L. Sickle Medick.
~ Ononis arvensis, L. Rest Harrow.
*Orchis pyramidalis, L. Pyramid al Orchis.
Habenaria viridis, Br. Green Orchis.
Picris hieracioides, L. Hawkweed Picris.
Plantago lanceolata, L. Lance-leaved Plantain.
= eee media, L. Hairy Plantain.
*Poterium sanguisorba, L. False Burnet.
Primula veris, L. Cowslip.
Prunella vulgaris, L. Self-heal.
Ranunculus acris, L. Upright Buttercup.
5 bulbosus, L. Bulbous +
Rhinanthus crista galli, L. Yellow Rattle.
Rumex acetosa, L. Sorrel.
*Scabiosa columbaria, L. Wild Scabious.
Senecio Jacobea, L. Ragwort.
*Calamintha acinos, Clair. Basil Thyme.
Thymus serpyllum, L. Common Thyme.
Trifolium filiforme, L. Small Yellow Clover.
¥9 pratense, L. Red Clover. . :
5 repens, L. White Dutch Clover.

Those marked thus * mostly affect calcareous soils.

Now, imperfect as is this list, both in arrangement and specific
definitions, yet it is clear enough to convey to the mind of the
working botanist, that here is an allocation of plants scarcely to be
met with elsewhere in the same space of ground. Many of them
are doubtless there in virtue of the calcareous nature of the soil;
every species of the list, if we except the Jasione montana, L., being
more or less common to the oolitic limestone series of the Cottes-
wolds; and yet we must range those hills from end to end to find
all the species here met with in a single month, on an isolated hill,
and that too an artificial structure.

That these facts will come out all the more strongly with a
perfect list of the Flora of Silbury Hill I have no doubt; and it is
the hope that some of the good botanists of the Wiltshire Society may

_ be induced to a further examination of this interesting monument

that has induced me to offer these few short notes,

VOL. IX.—NO. XXVI. N

162- On the Composite.

It may here be noted that on the same day I gathered on the
Abury circles the rare Carduus tuberosus, L., which I have had in
cultivation ever since, Orobanche minor, Sutt., Asperula Cynanchica,L.
Campanula glomerata, L., and Bromus arvensis, L. This grass has
within the last few years become common to Wilts and Gloucester-
shire, doubtless introduced with Foreign Rye Grass and Saintfoin
seeds. J. B.

In August, 1863, Miss Cunnington found the following on the
hill :—Polygala vulgaris, L., Phyteuma orbiculare, L., Lathyrus
pratensis, L., and Leontodon taraxacum, Sm.

On the Composite.
By Tomas Bruees Frowsr, M.R.C.S., F.L.S., &e., &e.

OxERHAPS there are few orders of plants more reluctantly
jl) approached by the majority of students, than the Com-
. posite. As this in a great measure arises from their apparently
anomalous mode of formation, a few observations tending to elucidate
their structure previous to commencing this interesting group in
the “Flora of the County” may not be in-appropriate.

The Composite of which the Dandelion, (Leontodon Taraxicum,
Sunflower, (Helianthus annuus) and Thistle, (Carduus), may be
considered the types, are so called from the circumstance of each
apparent flower being composed of numerous small florets, enclosed
within one common involucrum of variously shaped scale-like
leaves. The florets are sometimes uniform in their structure as in
the Dandelion, in which they appear in the form of narrow strap-
shaped blossoms, whilst in other instances the florets of the cireum-
ference only are so formed, those of the disk or centre being of
another colour and tubular in shape, as in the Daisy, Ox-eye, &c.
Some of those florets contain both stamens and pistils, others only
one of those organs, whilst a third set contains neither, and it is
upon the varied circumstances of their presence or absence that the
orders of the Linnean Class Syngenesia (swer together, and genesis
production, because the anthers are all united), to which they
belong are founded. As a full description of these orders is

.*

+

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 163

contained in every elementary work on Botany, I shall not repeat
them here, but proceed to the description of circumstances of much
more importance in regard to the right understanding of the struc-

ture of these flowers.
The disciples of the Linnean school following their great

master, consider -the circle of* scale-like leaflets which sur-
round and enclose the head of florets, to be a common calyx,
whilst each floret is said to be furnished with a minute partial calyx
sitting upon the top of the seed. These seeds are affixed to the
broad dilated extremity of the flower stalk, more or less co nical in
shape, called the receptacle, and which is occasionally furnished
with numerous hairs or chaff-like scales. Such is the manner in
which Withering, Smith, and other Linnewan Botanists describe
these flowers. Some modern writers howerer (Lindley, &c.), not
being content with the mere arbitrary application of terms, unsup-
ported by evidences of structural analogy, more properly describe
_the composite in reference to the general structure and develope-
ment of other Dicotyledonous plants. Thus the common calyx
they term an involucrum, reserving the term calyx for the rim,
or pappus, or down, which is placed on the summit of the seed,
which latter body they rightly consider to be not a naked seed
merely, but a ¢rue fruit, containing within itself the real seed. The
chaff or hairs which cover the receptacle are considered by them to
be true Bractez or floral leaves, in a diminutive and altered form.
As the fruit is the matured germen or ovary, it is necessary in all
cases of doubt to study the development of the former from its
earliest preceding condition. We find accordingly that the ovules
or immature seeds of all plants, are either exposed naked to the
fertilizing influence of the pollen, which is then immediately
applied to their integuments, or they are invested with a membranous
expansion, in which case the pollen is conveyed to the enclosed
ovule through some part of the enveloping membrane. The part
which receives the pollen is called the stigma, and the membrane
itself which immediately surrounds the ovule, is the germen or
carpel, the entire organ being known as the pistil. After the
fertilisation of the ovule, the stigma drops off, and the germen with
N 2

164 - On the Composite.

its contents, continues to enlarge, to form the fruit which consists
when ripe of the Pericarp or seed-vessel, i. e., the matured carpel,
and the seed or matured ovule. Whenever, therefore, the remains
of the stigma or style can be detected, no matter what may be the
shape or the appearance of the organ, the part in question must be
a Pericarp, and not a seed—because having had a stigma it must
have a carpellary covering, and, consequently the contained ovum
or seed cannot be naked. Now in the Composite the pistil pos-
sesses a true style and stigma, consequently the matured germen is
not a naked seed but a true fruit, the outer membrane of which
instead of being considered the coat of the seed, is really the Peri-
carp or seed vessel. We have now to consider the true nature of
what Linnean Botanists call the common calyx, the Receptacle,
the Palece or chaff, and the Pappus or seed-down. The opinion of
Linnzus that the Calyx was the production of the “cortical Epi-
dermis,” or outer bark, and that the Corolla proceeded from the
inner bark or “liber”? (Philosophia Botanica, p. 56.) is so entirely
at variance with the known structure of plants, that it merits no
further notice. Neither is the texture or colour of the floral envel-
opes of more value in determining the nature of the part which
may be present; e. g., in the Fuschia the calyx is of a brilliant
crimson and is therefore not ‘less coloured than the Corolla,”
which is the Linnean distinguishing character (Phil. Bot.) It is
evident therefore that the question can only be determined by
observing the situation or relation which the part bears to others
in its vicinity. Bearing this principle in mind, we find that the
separate parts of a plant are disposed in a spiral manner around a
central axis, which if it be shortened so that the parts may be
arranged on acommon plane, they must necessarily be disposed in
whorls, alternating with each other. The structure of the several
parts of a flower, and the alterations to which they are occasionally
subject, prove that the closest analogy exists between them and
the ordinary leaves, in fact they may be considered to be leaves in
various states of modification. Thus the outer or lower whorl from
which the flower rises, being leaves but little altered in shape and
appearance, constitute the Bractee or floral leaves. The next

a

eS eas

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 165

whorl consisting of leaflets more altered and occasionally united
together, form the Calyx, within which is the Coralla formed of
leaves of elegant and brilliant colouring, and enclosing the Stamens
and Pistils, which latter organs differ so much in form and appear-
ance from the original leaf, that their connection can only be
established by observing intermediate states, in which the transi-
tion has been imperfectly effected, and also by the return which
they occasionally exbibit to the state of true leaves. Hence we
see that the Calyx is truly the outer of the two whorls, which im-
mediately enclose the stamens and pistils; but the involucrum of
the composite encloses flowers not stamens, &c.,—it is therefore not a
Calyx. As the flowers like other vegetable organs,are disposed around
acentral axis, it is obvious that if those which would’ otherwise form
a spike or cluster of considerable length, were to be arranged on a
common plane according to their usual alternate disposition, they
would form a head of florets, occupying concentric circles, and
situated upon a more or less flattened disk. This is the exact na-
ture of the formation of a compound flower, the receptacle on
which the florets are situated being in fact, the spike or
axis, much abbreviated. The shortening of axis by bringing the
upper and differently shaped leaves of the stem into close con-

tact, forming the scales of the involucrum, sufficiently accounts for

the true nature of this latter body, whilst the propriety of the
modern appellation must be quite evident. - The only true Calyx
which the florets can have is the pappus or down, consisting of
numerous rays, each of which represents the midrib of a diminu-
tive leaflet (the laminze of which are mostly abortive), and being
occasionally furnished with lateral veins, forming in that case
what is usually denominated the feathery pappus. This pappus as
it terminates the seed vessel (as the calyx does in inferior fruits), and
surrounds the corolla or inner floral envelope, is plainly the true
calyx. In some cases it is partially developed: utoa series of scales,
at other times it exists in an exceedingly dimi..utive state, as a slight
rim, whilst in others it is entirely abseut. The outermost scales of
the involucrum, are described by some botanists as Bracteole, or

floral leaflets, but how improperly will be apparent when we con-

166 On the Composite.

sider that a true Bract is the leaf from whose axil the flower bud
proceeds.. Now as an involucrum encloses an abbreviated spike,
and not a single flower bud, its parts cannot be Bracts, which alone
exist in the Composite in the form of the colourless, diminutive
chaff-like scales (palez), situated on the receptacle, and on the
exterior side of each individual floret.

The student may satisfy himself of the correctness of these views
concerning the structure of the Composite,—first by sketching a
typical plant, and then projecting the parts upon acommon plane,
where they will be necessarily arranged as above described,or second-
ly by ascertaining theoretically what would be the effect if by lux-
uriance of growth the receptacle of a compound flower became
extended into an elongated axis. The scales of the involucrum
would then be separated and become spiral in their arrangement
the florets also would be disposed in a similar manner, and each
would be attended by its own proper bract, i. e. the chaff scale or
palea, and lastly the pappus would then be seen more plainly to be
the true calyx, crowning the real pericarp or seed vessel. More-
over it will be observed, that the order of flowering in a compound
flower, and in a spike exactly correspond, proceeding from below
upwards, in the latter case, and from without upwards in the former
one. It being obvious that the exterior flowers of the capitulum,
correspond with the inferior ones of aspike. In corroboration of the
foregoing views, I would refer to the flowers of the Dipsacez or
Teazel family, which will serve to elucidate many obscure points in
the structure of the composite, and conclude by impressing on the
students attention, that in Natural History arbitrary distinctions are
valueless, structural resemblances alone affording a sure foundation for
systematic arrangement.

167

THE

Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,
any Aarlborongh Aailtoaps.

By Tuomas Coprieron, Esa., F.G.S.

HAVE been asked to throw into the form of a paper for the

He) Wiltshire Magazine, such notes and observations on the
Geology of the country passed through by the Berks and Hants
extension, and the Marlborough Railways, as were accumulated
during the construction of those works ; and which unless recorded
in such a way, would soon be forgotten, or lost sight of.

Perhaps the most convenient plan will be—

I. To describe the points of interest on the Berks and Hants
Extension Railway as they are met with in going from Hunger-
ford to Devizes.

II. To traverse the Marlborough Railway in a similar manner
from Savernake to Marlborough, and

III. To enter into some general observations and conclusions
with regard to the vale of Pewsey.

I. Tue Berxs anp Hants Extension Rattway.

At Hungerford, the excavations for the roads exposed a clayey
flint gravel resting on the chalk. It is doubtless a high level
” gravel of the Kennet, but no remains of any sort were found. In

the low grounds peat and gravel were touched upon, and a few
- bones of horse and deer occurred below the peat.

In the deep cutting soon reached, the upper chalk is covered
only by a few inches of soil. The chalk is stained brown in
waves and folds for a depth of 8 or 4 feet from the surface; not a
rare occurrence in chalk covered by only a thin soil, but not easily
accounted for. Soon after passing through the cutting a tributary

a _ of the Kennet is crossed. Here about 100 yards to the south of the

Railway under a clump of trees is the outlet of a “swallet,” or

168 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

swallow hole, the water from which considerably augments the
steam.. There are several swallow holes near the junction of the
chalk with the Tertiary beds of Bagshot Hill, and Stripe Copse,
about one mile to the south. From one of these the water was
traced by the late Mr. Blackwell, who coloured the water as it was
swallowed up in the earth, and witnessed its reappearance at the
outlet at about the time expected. The underground course oi the
water in this case therefore, would appear to be in a more indepen-
dent channel than is usually considered to be the case in swallow holes.

The cuttings near Hungerford Barracks and Oakhill, are
through upper chalk, with a clayey gravel lying on its irregular
upper surface. These cuttings, and the one before mentioned, are
remarkable for an almost total absence of fossil shells. This is
however compensated for by the number and beauty of the sponge
spicules to be obtained from the hollow flints. They form good
objects for the microscope, especially when viewed by polarized
light. Foraminifera are also common in the fine chalk dust from
the inside of the flints.

In the valley between Hungerford and Little Bedwin there are
many masses of pudding stone, consisting of rounded flint pebbles
in a base of ferruginous grit. This pudding stone is generally
referred to the Woolwich and Reading beds, and does not appear to
occur westward of Little Bedwin. There the ground is strewed
with blocks of Sarsen stone ; not the ordinary saccharoidal Grey-
wether sand-stone occuring on the downs, but the harder, finer
grained variety, of which the blocks in the Vale of Pewsey also
consist. The blocks are of irregular form, but rounded and smoothed
as if by the action of water, and are often pitted on what appears |
to have been the upper and under surface, with small deep holes.
The holes are caused by the decay near the ‘surface of the stone,
of stem-like objects about the size of a large straw. In one of the
stones, the microscopic structure of these stem-like objects has been
well preserved. A transverse section, exhibits a centre about one
fortieth of an inch in diameter, sometimes hollow, and sometimes
filled up, around which is a network of cells without any sign of
annual rings or medullary rays. Aradial or a tangential section,

and Marlborough Railways. 169

_shews the cells to be from 10 to 15 diameters long with square ends,

abutting end to end and breaking joint. '

The occurrence of organic remains in Sarsen stone is extremely
rare. Some fragments of coniferous wood have been obtained, but
nothing to establish the connection of these blocks with either the
Woolwich and Reading beds, or the Bagshot sand, to both of which
their origin has been ascribed. It would therefore have been inter-
esting if the nature of the plant could have been deduced from the
microscopic structure, but Sir W. Hooker, Sir C. Bunbury, and
other distinguished botanists to whom specimens have been submit-
ted, are unable to say more than that they are of vegetable origin.

At Little Bedwin I was fortunate enough to pick up two flint im-
plements. They were both lying on the surface of gravel which
had been moved in the construction of the Railway, and one has
all the characteristics of those of the post Pliocene period. It is of
spear head shape,5} inches long, 2} inches broad, and 14 inches thick.
In the other, advantage has been taken ofa naturally formed slice
off the outside of a flint. It is oval, 3 inches long, and 13 broad,

and a sharp edge has been made by chipping the outer side of the

slice all round, the inner side being left just as it was before the
maker of the tool took it in hand. The difference in colour and
patina, between the natural fracture and the chips round the edge ;
and between the chips and a modern fracture, is very clear.
Surface deposits were continually touched upon in the valley
between Little Bedwin and Crofton, but no good sections were
obtained, and in many places the construction of the Canal had
already interfered with the ground. At Crofton Engine, the valley

- of denudation in which the rest of the course of the Railway lies
is entered upon. The upper end of this valley as far west as

Burbage is drained into the Kennet and the Thames through the
valley which the Railway has followed from Hungerford. On this
more will be said hereafter. In the cutting at Crofton Engine, the

chalk rock, that is the upper bed of the lower chalk, is passed
through, and from this to Wolfhall bridge, the cuttings of the
Railway are in the lower chalk and chalk marl.

} Specimen and Sections are in the Museum of this Society,

170 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

On the north side of the Railway, at the west end of the cutting
at Crofton Engine, a curious deposit was removed, of which there
was a good section in the old road leading to Freewarren. It
was apparently stratified, and contained bones, teeth, or horns of ox,
sheep, pig, badger, and red deer; with fragments of British and
Roman pottery, calcined flints, and an abundance of land shells,
especially of Cyclostoma elegans. Some of this deposit may still be
seen near the canal Feeder.

At about a quarter of a mile from Savernake
Station, the Upper-green-sand is reached, and the
beds cut through between this point and the Station,
yielded many sponges. The most common form
is that shewn in fig. 1. It is an undescribed
species allied to Siphonia, the oscules radiating from
the central cavity outwards. Another species found
here is somewhat similar in shape but quite dif-

Fig. a ferent in structure, having tubules running up the
stem and opening into the cavity and on the outside. Sponges which
appear to be of the same species as the latter, sometimes approximate
closely in form to Chenenodopora undulata of Michelin! plate 40.,
fig. 2., (Polypothecia undulata of Benett). Jerea elongata (Michelin
plate 39, fig. 4a), Jerea pyriformis (Michelin plate, 36, fig. 3), Jerea
excavata (Michelin plate 33, fig. 3., plate 89, fig. 2), and Jerea
gregaria (Polypothecia gregaria of Benett), were also more or
less common. <A few specimens of Syphonia pyriformis and
Hallirhoa costata occurred, and others which in the present confused
nomenclature of fossil sponges, it is useless to attempt to specify
unless a figure can be referred to.

The sponges seemed to be most plentiful at from 25 to 30 feet —
below the top of the Upper-green-sand, and to the westward of the
station very few occurred.

Near the east end of the Canal Tunnel, at about the level of the
sponges, the scapule with some ribs and vertebra of a P/esiosaurus
were found. It is remarkable that among the ribs were six or
seven grey quartzose pebbles, varying from half an inch to an inch

} Michelin Iconographie Zoophytologique.

and Marlborough Railways. } 171

in diameter. I never saw arfother pebble in the sand, and these
occurred at some depth below the chloritic marl, in which there
are sometimes small pebbles although none occur in it here.

The harder ends of some fish vertebra of 3} inches diameter, were
found near the station. A vertebra of 31 inches in diameter,
judging by a modern specimen, would indicate a shark of the
length af 20 feet or more.

The passage of the Upper-green-sand into the Chalk-marl is seen
in the road from the station, but the fossils in the transition beds
are here few and unimportant. Of the Upper-green-sand, about 80
feet is seen, the uppermost beds being exposed in the station road,
and to the east of the station. In the lower beds to the west of the
station, Pecten orbicularis was plentiful, and Ammonites elegans,
Ammonites simplex, Plicatula pectinoides, and coniferous wood pre-
forated by Pholas constricta, were found.

Near Brimslade, surface deposits of sandy clay are met with, but
no sections of any consequence occur till we reach New Mill. In
the cutting here, Gryphea vesiculosa and Exogyra conica are common,
Pecten quadricostatus, Rhynconella compressa, teeth of Lamna and
coniferous wood were found. .

Near Milkhouse Water, covered by 3 to 5 feet of Greensand appar-
ently in situ,'is a band of rag stone in angular fragments, sufficiently
small to be used for road metalling without breaking. Around
Burbage and Easton, the same sort of stone is found at a depth of
from 1 to 2 feet, and is obtained from the fields and gardens for
the repair of the roads.

The cuttings between Milkhouse Water and Pewsey yielded
chiefly Pecten asper. Between the valves of these, spicules of
sponge were to be obtained, and also fragments of the network of ©
Ventriculites, and objects very much like the gemmules of sponge.

Sponge spicules from the Upper-green-sand seem to be quite un-

- affected by the polariscope, while as before observed, those from the

chalk also siliceous are beautifully coloured.
A few sponges occurred near Pewsey, they were generally funnel
shaped, the funnel becoming thinner towards the brim. Very
generally the sponge was encased in a hard covering of rag stone.

172 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

Below the peat in the bed of the stream at Buckleaze, many antlers
of the red deer were found, some of them were of a very large size.

In the cutting near Pewsey Workhouse, the Upper-green-sand is
of a coarser, looser nature, than that hitherto met with, and is
totally devoid of fossils. It exhibits much cross stratification, and
in places is thickly traversed in all directions by the borings of
some annelid. They are from } of an inch to } an inch in diameter,
and are filled in with white sand, while the surrounding sand is of a
dark green colour:

The Upper-green-sand throughout the cutting is capped with a
bed of clayey gravel from 4to 15 feet thick, lying on a surface
eroded into gullies. The gravel consists of about one half clay
mixed with greensand, and the rest angular flints, with a few
Tertiary pebbles, and rolled fragments of Lydian stone and He-
matite. Sarsen stones also occur in it, generally at or near the
bottom of the gravel. The finer materials show signs of stratifica-
tion, In the gravel were found several molars of the Mammoth !
(Elephas primigenius,) and of the Horse? (Equus Fossilis.) They
were much decayed, nothing remaining but the enamel plates, with
hardly enough of the cement to hold them together. I myself
extracted the Radius and Ulna of a Horse,* attached to each
other and lying by themselves. No other bones were preserved, but
a few small pieces seemed to indicate that others had been met with.

The highest part of the gravel exposed in the cutting, is 67 feet
above the stream at Shercot, and 57 feet above the stream at Buck-
leaze. We have evidence here then that in the Post-pliocene
period, when the Mammouth and Fossil Horse lived, the streams
flowed at a higher lever than they now do by 67 feet. Gradually
since that time, by fluviatile action, the courses of the streams have
been lowered to their present level, leaving here and there terraces
of gravel to mark successive stages in the excavation of their vallies.

The cutting near Woodborough, half a mile to the East of Wood-
borough Station, is remarkable for itssponges. The level compared
with that of the base of the chalk to the north, seems to indicate

1 Now in the Museum ef ae Wiltshire Society.
ditto * ditto

and Marlborough Railways. 173

==

that the sponge bearing beds are at from 20 to

30 feet below the junction of the Upper-green-

sand and Chalk, being at a corresponding

height to the sponges at Savernake. There is
¢ considerable difference in form and texture
5 between the Savernake and the Woodborough
2 sponges. The lobed forms (Hallirhoa costata)
@ are common at Woodborough, and rare at
= Savernake, and the same may be said of Poly-
$ pothecia agariciformis, while the forms common
at Savernake do not occur, or are rare at Wood-
€ borough. Funnel-shaped sponges like Chenen-
4 dospora subplena (Michelin plate 41, fig. 1),
g and Chenendopora expansa (Polypothecia expansa
= of Benett), are common, some of them being as
much as 18 inches across. There is a general
similarity between the sponges of Woodborough
and Warminster.

—s

———
SS SS So
:

SS
Ss
eT E |
Z (i
SEES ==
ZZ

SS

—80 ft

e.

d Drift.—Scal

After passing through some shallow cuttings
in the Upper-green-sand near Beechingstoke
and Patney, we come to Patney marshes, where
the surface for two miles along the Railway
is covered with a drift varying from a mixture
of greensand and chalk pebbles with a little
clay, to a strong blue clay. The clayey nature

—

ee

of this drift appears to increase as we approach

6 Chloritic marl. c Chalk marl.

the turnpike road leading from Devizes to Salis-
bury, where it is used for brick-making.

i In the cutting near Stert, there is a very
i 4 & good section of a fault which has thrown up the
- i i B upper beds of the green-sand about 380 feet.
lis = As we pass through the cutting from the east,
we come successively on higher beds of the

een-sand,

Upper-green-sand, till we reach the transition
beds, and the chalk marl. There is then a
fault, or rather a succession of faults, and the

174 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

upper band of stone in the green-sand is brought up first to the
bottom of the cutting, and a little farther on 10 feet higher, by
four or five jumps. To the west of the fault the band of stone is
broken and irregular in its dip, and the dip is much less than to
the east of the fault. A fissure in the fault was filled in with
a compact green chloritic mineral. The beds thrown up by the
fault have been denuded, and the whole planed down to an even
surface which is covered by a chalky drift, 3 or 4 feet thick. A
section of the fault is given in fig. 2.

We have here the top of the Upper-green-sand iit at 7° Nea,
this would bring up the Gault to the surface in less than a quarter
of a mile, taking the thickness of the Upper Greensand at 138 feet,
which is its estimated thickness at Devizes.! A quarter of a mile
brings us back to the east end of the cutting, at the road to Full-
way ; and as the dip of the beds for this distance is unbroken, and
at nearly the same angle, we have between the end of the cutting
and the fault a section of the Upper-green-sand from bottom to
top. Indeed, in the rvad to Fullway we probably see the top of
the Gault in some clayey beds there exposed. Although the clay
dug for brickmaking close by is certainly not Gault in situ, still its
origin and that of the more clayey portion of the drift towards
this end of the marshes, is probably due to the former presence of
the Gault at the surface.

Either another fault, or a fold in the strata must exist between
Stert and Patney, to bring the beds in Stert cutting, there rising at
an angle of 7° towards the S.E., down to the Upper-green-sand near
Patney. It is more probably a fault, parallel in general direction
with the one exposed in the cutting, and which there appears to
run E.N.E. and W.N.W.

The fault exposed in the cutting is perhaps one running from
Coulston along the junction of the Gault and the Portland sands,
to Stert and Etchilhampton. This would account for the bringing
up of the Portland sands to the level of the Gault in Urchfont
bottom, and for the elevation of the chalk composing Etchilhampton
hill. Such a fault would be in general direction parallel to those

1 Memoirs of Geological Survey, Sheet 34, p. 33.

Mle eS ee

oo to

.
i

Le
to
y< t
a
we

v. &

al,
i
“A

id

and Marlborough Railways. 175

at Heywood, Bradley and Trowbridge, which are laid down
in the Ordnance Geological Survey Map. It might also be
connected with disturbance along the anticlinal line of the
valley.

Two singular ravines are crossed by the railway, one at Tinkfield,
and the other and larger one, a quarter mile nearer Devizes at
Nurstead. The peat and chalky mud in the former was pierced
for a considerable depth without finding a bottom, and on cutting

into the side of the ravine a curious section was presented. The
Fig. 3

G Sah Sale Pats was overlaid

y by a chalky mud like pipe clay,
this by peat containing wood and
nuts, and this by Upper-green-
sand not differing in appear-
ance from Upper-green-sand in
situ. It must however have been

Yi green-sand washed down over the
@ Upper-green-sand. 6 Chalky mud. ec Peat. c
d Drifted green-sand. peat, as shown in fig. 3.

The bottom of the ravine at Nurstead was laid open by trenches,
but the mud with chalky seams and pebbles, which covered the
bottom was not penetrated. The cutting for the road under the
Railway to the east of the ravine, was made through a bed of Gry-
phea vesiculosa, and Exogyra conica, in clusters of shells which
had apparently been drifted together after death.

The cuttings near Devizes are through the middle beds of the
Upper-green-sand, and yielded the fossils enumerated in the table

appended. I am almost entirely indebted to Mr Cunnington for

the list of Devizes fossils, and also for assistance in naming
others. Mr. Etheridge of the Museum of Practical Geology has
also given me his valuable help, by identifying many of the
species.

Although foreign to the subject of this paper the great depth of the
old ditch round the keep of Devizes Castle may here be mentioned.
It had nearly vertical sides, and was 45 feet deeper than the present
moat in the Castle Grounds, that is, nearly as deep as the valley
between the Castle and Devizes Station.

176 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

FossILs FROM THE UPPER-GREEN-SAND.

Orbitolina concava
Vermicularia concayva
Holaster planus
Galerites subuculus
Terebratula biplicata
Terebratulina striata
Rhynconella compressa
depressa
latissima
Gibbsii
Radiolites Mortoni
Exogyra conica
Grypheea vesiculosa
Lima Hoperi
Dupiniana
Pecten asper
orbicularis
quadricostatus
Plicatula pectinoides
Ostrea carinata
Arca carinata
Cucullea glabra
Myacites mandibula
Pholas constricta
Cardium spheroideum
Unicardium Ringmerensis
Pleurotomaria perspectiva
Rhodani
Ammonites rostratus

Mantelli
nayicularis

——varians
Nautilus elegans
pseudo-elegans
levigatus
—— simplex
Belemnites minimus
Turrilites tuberculatus

* * Savernake.

*

New Mill.

Milkhouse ~
Water, and

Pewsey.

*

* % Woodborough.

Stert.

*

* * @

Xe %

exe ek HR E SE

*

Devizes.

** * &

ed

and Marlborough Railways. 177

II. Tue Marisoroven Raiiway.

The cutting in the Upper-green-sand at Savernake Station, where
the Marlborough Railway commences, has already been noticed.
At a quarter of a mile from this spot, the junction of the Upper-
green-sand and Chalk-marl is passed over, but no section is visible.
At Lye Lane there is a good section through part of the Lower-chalk,
here consisting of hard thick-bedded stone, dipping north 8°. Jno-
ceramus latus, Pecten quinquecostata Pecten Beaveri, Turrilites
tuberculatus, Rhynconella Gibbsii, Ammonites varians, Ammonites
Mantelli, and sharks teeth were found here.

Upper-chalk. —>—1—> _—- In the deep cutting near Lye Hill, the
* upper beds of the Lower-chalk, capped by the
chalk-rock are well seen. The chalk-rock
formsa division between the Lower,and U pper-
chalk; it is very constant in its occurrence,
and from its greenish yellow colour it is
easily recognised. Here it is 10 feet thick
; and divided into five beds, fig.4. The Lower-
Medios chalk in about 8 inches passes into a band
F | of hard rubbly stone, coated green, in which

are nodules of Iron pyrites, causing rusty

|

|

|

Lower-
chalk.

Chalk-rock

<a _ stains. There is then a sharp line, and over
:$ Gia this a bed of hard chalk 2 feet 6 inches thick,
nthe kas of the colour of the Lower-chalk, capped

with a dark marly seam about 4 inches thick, forming another
well marked divison. The ordinary Lower-chalk is then resumed,
but soon gets yellow, and in 3 feet passes into another band of
green coated lumps of hard chalk like the first. At 2 feet above
this, another similar but less marked band occurs, and at 1 foot
above this latter another like it. Then comes a bed of hard
rock 1 foot thick, on which is a well marked band of green coated
rubbly stone 3 inches thick. Over this begins the Upper-chalk. In
these greenish yellow bands, there is a gradual deepening of colour
from below upwards, and then a sudden break, and return to the

__ ordinary colour of the chalk.

_ The beds of rock, and the rubbly lumps are much harder than the
“VOL. IX.—NO. XXVI. 0

178 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

ordinary chalk, and do not suffer from the action of frost.
At about 4 feet below the Chalk-rock there is here a succession
of irregularly shaped cavities filled with a brown sand, probably of
Tertiary age, which has found its way beneath the Chalk-rock from
its outcrop on the surface, and not through it in sand pipes. The
Chalk-rock dips at an angle of 27° nearly true north, and higher up
at the road from Wootton Rivers to Forest Gate, the dip is as
much as 45° in the same direction. The Chalk here appears to have
suffered considerable tilting up and denudation before the deposi-
tion of the Tertiary beds; otherwise sand of the latter age could
hardly have penetrated into the lower-chalk. The present surface
of the hill is free from any drift, only a few inches of soil
covering thechalk. The thickness of the Lower-chalk appears to be
about 860 feet, but the data are insufficient for accurate measure-

ment.
Fig. 5 repre-

me, —=——4 IY <5 .-flints sents a disturb-
\ LR ed O98 Fh ance in theChalk-

we SF UD fints with-flints, visi-
a IS ? VA ; blenear the end of
jiints .... pee, sy? :

soe Lea hi . the cutting, and

fints....g9 A eae on each side of
ed
it. It does not
Fig. 5. Section near road from Wootton Rivers to Forest-gate. appear to be a
fault, as the lines of flint resume their course after passing through
it. The sides are marked by sharp lines, within which the chalk
looses its regular stratification and becomes confused. A band of
flints dips down ina V shape, in which the flints are not so continuous
as in the undisturbed portions. Above the V the chalk is inter-
mingled with brown clay, and lies in curves. .
Inoceramus Brogniartti, Spondylus spinosus, Terebratula carnea,
Micraster cor-anguinum occurred in the Upper-chalk here.
On reaching the high table land, we come to a succession of cut-
tings very similar in character.
A drift of re-arranged Tertiary beds lies on the chalk, the upper
surface of which is exceedingly irregular. This drift is principally

o

and Mariborough Railways. 179

the deposit called Clay-with-flints by the Geological Surveyors,
and is covered in places by clayey sand or Brick-earth. The latter

_ is sometimes so like the mottled clays and sands of the Woolwich and

Reading series, that it is only after repeatedly finding angular chalk
flints in it, or unmistakeable drift beds under it, that I have come
to the conclusion that the Tertiaries do not occur in situ. An
exception may perhaps occur at the first bridge over the Railway,
where there is a bed of fine clean sand covered by mottled clay.

_ The sections in these cuttings were obscure, from the fact of their
not being deep enough. The Chalk was only here and there touched
upon, and the relation of the overlying deposits was only made out
by the light thrown. upon them in the cutting near Warnhams.
This, throughout its length, exhibits a good section of the Chalk,
Clay-with-flints, and Brick-earth.

Figs. 6 and 7,
were drawn while
the cutting was
in progress, but
other and similar
sections are still
visible. The up-

per surface of the
, Chalkisextreme-
ly irregular, jutting up in peaks

Fig. 6. e A Sarsen-stone embedded in the brick-earth.

_ of all shapes, between masses of
BoE Clay-with-flints. It is covered

with about an inch of black

clay, and the flints at the
(A ea bottom of the Clay-with-flints
= eg are often black coated. The
Ree é ..Bandoffint. Qlay-with-flints is here about 6

: WN

feet thick, and its upper bound-
ANSSe ary repeats the general outline
FT TT, of the top of the Chalk, how-

Chalk,

Fig.7. ever irregular that may be. It

re
2 consists of clay more or less sandy, containing flints of all sizes quite

0 2

180 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

unworn, and a few tertiary pebbles. The Brick-earth is the same
sandy-clay which forms the matrix for the flints below. It fills up all
inequalities, its bedding following the curves of the upper surface
of the Clay-with-flints, even when it decends into a pothole like
that in the figure. The Brick-earth is free from flints, but contains
Sarsen stones in large masses; these sometimes lie on the top
surface of the Clay-with-flints, but are never imbedded in it.

The irregularities of surface in the Chalk are not longitudinal
gullies, but potholes. This was clearly seen while the cutting was
in progress. The depth of some of the pot holes from the surface
of the ground exceeds 30 feet, and they sometimes extend for as
much as half this depth in the Chalk.

The theory of Lyell, that potholes in the Chalk are the result of
the chemical action of water charged with carbonic acid derived
from decaying vegetable matter, receives considerable support here.
In the Chalk there is a tabular layer of flint forming a well marked
level line. Wherever this line approaches the side of a pothole, it
bends downwards, while apparently still in the solid chalk. ‘This
is just what would happen if the chalk were dissolved away by per-
colating water. The Chalk below the layer of flint would be pro-
tected, excaph near the sides of the potholes, when the wasting of

the Chalk would let down
the flint layer. Fragments
of the tabular flint were
sometimes seen containing
the downward line in the
pothole, and in one instance,
fig. 8, the fragments extend-

ed quite across the pothole,
Fig. 8. lying in a festoon in the clay
within a few inches of the bottom. Had the deepening of the
pothole gone on, the connection of the middle part of the curve’
would soon have been broken, and the tabular fragments, except
those near the sides would have been lost in the mass of larger
flints.
Everything seems to indicate a quiet subsidence of the overlying

aw

he: hd
“ee a es

and Marlborough Railways. 181

bed into irregularities in the dissolving chalk. Everything here
also favours the supposition, that the origin of the Clay-with-flints
is to be ascribed to the gradual dissolving away of the Chalk-with-
flints under a capping of drift Brick-earth. The flints, representing
a much greater thickness of chalk than the 6 feet into which they
are now crowded, have subsided gradually, without losing any of
the irregularity of their forms. The overlying drift or Brick-earth
has also sunk, the clay and sand and a few small tertiary pebbles
finding their way around and below the flints as the chalk enclosing
them was dissolved. Large masses like the Sarsen stones would
of course remain above the flints, subsiding among the folds of the
Brick-earth on the failure of support below. Mr. Whitaker, in
describing these deposits of Clay-with-flints and Brick-earth, says
of them}, that the Brick-earth is generally underlain by the Clay-
with-flints—that the Clay-with-flints never occurs off the Upper-
chalk—that the Tertiary beds and the Lower-chalk are free from it—
that it is not found in the bottom of chalk vallies, but that it often
extends someway down their sides. All these facts are quite con-
sonant with this mode of formation. The Clay-with-flints must
underlie the Brick-earth, when the latter is present, but the whole
of it may be absorbed into the Clay-with-flints. Upper-chalk-with-
flints must be the under-lying formation to furnish the flints ; and the
Clay-with-flints,resulting from drift covering the higher ground, and
older than the chalk valleys, will not be found in the bottoms of the
latter ; but it may extend down their sides, where, as at Warnhams
the thickness of the drift is great.

A covering of drift made up of Tertiary materials, seems
greatly to promote the formation of potholes, and the irregular
erosion of the chalk; Tertiary beds, unless where they thin out
appear to protect it. Perhaps in consequence of their more
regular stratification, they do not give so ready an access to the

acidulated water as the drifts do. On both Tertiaries and drifts,

the growth of vegetation is much more luxuriant than on the
bare chalk, and the supply of carbonic acid proportionately

. ‘Memoirs illustrating sheet 13 of the map of the Geological survey, page 54.

Quart. Jour. Geolo. Soc, vol. 18, page 265.

182 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

greater ; but other forms of land surface probably attended the
formation of potholes and Clay-with-flints.'

A vast time must be allowed for the formation of Clay-with-flints
from Chalk-with-flints. But the drift covering the high grounds,
and capping some of the highest points, is very ancient, dating
from an earlier period than the Boulder clay. The chalk valleys
and coombs, and the Vale of Pewsey, have all been excavated since
its deposition, and the excavation of the latter to nearly its present
depth, and its elevation above the sea, had taken place before the
period when the mammoth left its remains in the valley. To this
latter period we cannot yet count back by thousands of years.

The remaining cuttings near Marlborough are through Upper-
chalk, the fossilsin which are few and fragmentary. In the cutting
near Granham there were many funnel shaped sponges enclosed in
the flints, and at Marlborough Station masses of the branching
sponge (Spongia ramosa) were found.

The following list comprises all the other fossils observed.

Cidaris sceptifer (spines)

Bourgueticrinus ellipticus (fragments)

Gontaster

Micraster con-anguinum

Ananchytes ovata

Galerites albo-galerus

Terebratula carnea

Inoceramus. Brogniartit

Lima Hopert

Spondylus spinosus

Pleurotomaria perspectiva

Note.—Since the above suggested explanation of the formation of Clay-with-

flints was written, I have found in the Memoir illustrating sheet 7, of the
Geological Survey, published last summer, that Mr. Whitaker had already come
to the same conclusion as to the origin of that formation. He does not however
claim it as anew suggestion, but gives a quotation from the Journal of the
Geological Society of 1851, in which it is only mentioned as a prevalent assump-

tion to be condemned, by Mr. Trimmer, a strong adyocate for the mechanical
origin of potholes in chalk.

III. Tue Vare or Pewsey.
The Vale of Pewsey is the largest of the three indentations in
the great escarpmeut of Chalk which runs across England from
Dorsetshire, through Wiltshire, Berkshire, &c., into Yorkshire.

1 See Mr. Prestwich’s valuable paper, Quart. Jour. Geolo, Soc. vol. 11.

t. 4h. a

and Marlborough Railways. 183

It is one of three creeks in the ancient coast line represented by the
chalk escarpment, the others being the Vale of the Wily near
Warminster, and the Vale of Wardour. All three valleys or
creeks are similar in origin. Along the centre of each runs an
anticlinal axis from which the strata dip outwards in opposite

- directions ; indicating that a much greater upheaval has taken place
along that line, than in the surrounding table land of Chalk. Marine
denudation, then, acting among the cracks and fissures, produced by
elevation along an anticlinal line, removed the chalk once continuous
across these valleys, and exposed the inferior formations.

The Geological date of this ancient coast line can be approxima-
tely fixed. It is after the Lower Eocene period; as we find the.
remains of those beds along the edge of the escarpment, while there
is no trace of them on the lower ground; and it is before the
Glacial period, for we find Boulder clay in places at the base of the
escarpment, and not deposited in the same neighbourhood up
the sides, or on the top of it.1 The marine denudation to
which the formation of this ancient coast line and its creeks is
due, must have acted during a slow upheaval of the land. The
upheaval may have been intermittent, or varied by downward
movements, but the broad general result must have been, that the
Tertiary beds covering the chalk table land were denuded, and the

surface of the downs was moulded, (so far as it was moulded by

_ marine denudation), before the formation of the chalk escarpment
and its creeks; and that the chalk escarpment and higher valleys,
like Pewsey Vale, were eroded to something like their present form,
before a lower valley, such as Urchfont bottom, and the lower plain
stretching below Devizes, were denuded.

In the Vale of Pewsey with which we are more immediately
concerned, we havea valley extending from Martin to Devizes,
walled in on the north and south by chalk escarpments, rising
boldly above the Upper-green-sand, and opeuing out westward.
Within the mouth of this valley, between Stert and Urchfont, is
the upper end of another valley at a much lower level, also opening
out westward.

——

ee Ramsay’s Lectures on the Physical Geology of Great Britian, p. 107.

-

4
2
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a
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A
i

184 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

Between the two valleys, forming a step from the higher to the
lower, is an escarpment of Upper-green-sand, which may be traced
from Earlestoke, round to Stert, Potterne, Devizes, &c. This step
seems to indicate that between two periods of comparative rest,
during which the upper and lower valleys were excavated, with
their bottoms sloping gently seaward from the enclosing cliffs,
an interval occurred in which the rate of uprise was greater.

We should naturally expect to find the waters from Pewsey Vale
flowing with a general westerly course into the lower valley.
They have this westerly course from the watershed at Burbage, as
far as Newington, but there they turn southward, and soon fall
into the Avon at Rushall. The Avon, which drains all the country
as far as Bishops Cannings, Echilhampton, and Lydeway, has up
to this point been flowing up the vale. It now turns south-
ward, and flows in a narrow valley completely through Salisbury
Plain.

It is curious to note how completely the whole drainage of the
country, up to the very edge of the lower valley, is turned back.
Standing near the “ Clock,” on the Turnpike-road between Fullaway
and Lydeway, a quarter of a mile south of the railway bridge, one sees
close by on the west, a rapid fall leading down into Urchfont
bottom; yet the water from the road finds its way back up the
valley to the Avon. .

.We find that in a smilar way the waters of the Wiley, and of
the Nadder, are turned back at the mouths of valleys of elevation
opening out westward ; and in fact until we come to the Lias plain
of Somersetshire, there seems to be a general tendency in the
streams to flow backwards and reach the sea by some unexpected
channel.

We must look to some general cause for this tendency ; and the
cause probably is, that combined with upheaval, there was a tilting
up from the northwestward, by which the sea bottom, after being
laid dry, received an inclination away from the sea, sufficient to turn
the drainage backwards. There are evidences remaining of such
a tendency to a greater relative upheaval towards the north-west.
The general dip of the strata is from the north-west to the south-east,

and Marlborough Railways. 185

and besides the fault at Stert already noticed, there are others laid
down on the Geological Survey Maps, running in a parallel direc-
tion from north-east to south-west, in which the beds to the north-
western side of the fault are raised. There is such a fault between
Westbury Field and Reydown Common, bringing up the Oxford-
clay and Calcareous-grit to the Kimmeridge-clay ; another running
from Elm, to Trowbridge and Semington, bringing up the Corn-
brash to the Oxford-clay ; another between Atford and Laycock,
bringing up the Forest-marble to the Oxford-clay.

The same general tendency to a greater upheaval to the north-
west, which gave rise to these and other faults to the westward,
may have still been in action when the land was emerging from

: the sea.

The inclination from the head of the valley seaward, as left by
marine denudation may have been but slight ; still the first direction
of the drainage of the valley after it emerged from the sea was
probably westward. We may suppose however that as the tilting
up of the mouth of the valley went on faster than the stream
flowing seaward could lower its course, the drainage would be

first stopped and then turned backwards up the valley.

Having the fact before us that the drainage does not flow west-
ward, but through the Avon valley, let us now see what light can

-be thrown on the origin of the latter.

_ A glance at the ordnance map will shew that there are a succes-
sion of dry valleys, or coombs, originating at the very edge of the

chalk escarpment, and falling away from the vale on either side.

They join one with another like the branches of a river, as they
recede from the valley, and their course in its lower part is occupied
by astream. There is a group of these coombs ramifying up from
Tilshead towards Redhorn, and others behind Upavon Hill, Pewsey
Hill, Easton Hill, &c. All these sooner or later, join the Avon
valley. Behind the northern escarpment are similar coombs,
falling away from Saint Ann’s Hill to Beckhampton, and to West
Kennet; from Milk Hill to East Kennet ; from Golden Ball Hill,

: vem from Hewish Hill, to Clatford.

_ If we go beyond the district now under adele similar

186

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The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

N\- mee -

YY Yy

eee a

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R. Kennet
470 ft.

Canal.
Gravel 458,
Gravel 420.

Rushall 301.
Pewsey Hill.

Upavon.

coombs will be found to prevail
along the wholelength of the chalk
escarpment. Fig. 9, is a section
through one of these coombs. It
commences at the river at West
Kennet, runs through the letter
“a” in “ Large stones,” up to the
well marked in the Ordnance map,
then takes the western fork and
passes through the escarpment a
little to the east of St. Ann’s Hill.
It is continued to the stream
near Honey-street, and follows its
course by Bottlesford, Newing-
ton, and Rushall, down the Avon
valley. It has been necessary to
exaggerate the vertical heights
for the sake of clearness, but in
other respects the section is drawn
as correctly as the smallness of
the scale will allow.

A section of the coomb branch-
ing off at the well, and through
the hill } mile to the east, is so
similar, except that the “col” or
dividing ridge is 50 feet lower,
that any other difference would
hardly be perceptible at the scale
used.

The heights figured, and those
from which the section is drawn
have been obtained by levelling
with the spirit level. The height
of Pewsey Hill and of the hills »
above Upavon which are drawn in
outline, were ascertained by the
aneroid barometer.

ahd Marlborough Railways. . 187

To correct any erroneous impression, which the exaggeration of
the vertical scale compared with the horizontal scale, may give rise
to, it may be mentioned that the angle with the horizon of the
steepest part of the section towards the valley is 25°, and towards
the coomb 20°. Both these angles are considerably greater than
the average slope of the sides of the valley.

It is impossible to say how much of the hollowing out of these
and similar coombs is due to marine denudation, acting at the sea
~ level as the land rose ; and how much to atmospheric causes, such

as the rain, and tke surface drainage running off down the slopes,

and away from the valley ; which latter causes have been in opera-
tion as long asthe land has been above the level of the sea. It is
probable that faults or lines of fracture in the chalk, may have
given the first direction to both these agencies, and so far have
_ been the primary cause of some of the coombs.
As the great anticlinal fold of chalk rose above the waters, there
would be a wearing down and excavation going on on the flanks,
‘ at the same time that the valley was being eroded among the fis-
_ sures along the axis. The denudation on the flanks would however
_ beat work on the backs of the beds, owing to their outward dip,
1 and would in general produce less marked results than in the
f central valley, where the same outward dip would give much
greater undermining power to the action of the sea.

The direction, and the amount of dip in rocks now exposed to the
_ waves, both exercise a great influence on the rate at which the
strata are undermined and brought down to the sea level, and it is
important to bear this in mind when considering the effects of
former marine denudation. )

As a result of the different rate of denudation, the upper ends of
_ the coombs would sooner or later be left above the sea level,
_ and exposed to the action of atmospheric causes only, while the
_ sides of the valley were still being undermined and eaten back by _
_ the sea; so that the ‘“‘col”’ between the valley and the head of the
~ coomb would be continually lowered and narrowed.

_ A little consideration will shew that the result would be the
me, however great a share in the hollowing out of the coombs we
allot to atmospheric influences.

188 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

The section shews how slight the partitions between the valley,
and the coombs near St. Ann’s Hill now are, and we cannot doubt
that a marine erosion greater either in duration or intensity, acting
between @ and 6 or near d only, would have reduced the “col”
by some 250 feet in height.

There are many cases in which such connections between the
valley and the coomb have been made, and which are now passes at
a high level between the higher hills of the escarpment... Such
is the hollow leading from Bratton to the downs, and that from
West Lavington by Gore Cross to Tilshead, and such a connection
may well have been made at the upper end of the Avon valley.
Without supposing a case so extreme as that which has nearly
occurred on the opposite side of the valley, we can readily see how
a passage could have been opened at as low a level as that of the
present river. But marine denudation which acts only at or near
the sea level, could not open a connection between the valley and
the coomb at a lower level than the bottom of the valley as it
existed when it rose above the sea, and when marine denudation
ceased. At what height then in the present valley are we to draw
a line which shall roughly represent the limit of marine denudation,
and below which everything has been removed by subeerial causes ?
It will clearly be higher than the post-pliocene drift at Pewsey,
and as high or higher than the oldest and highest gravel in that
part of the valley. The flint gravel of Pewsey Common is the
highest with which I am acquainted. It is 38 feet higher than the
post-pliocene drift at Pewsey Station, and 90 feet above the road
near Lydeway. At the level of this gravel the line in the section is
drawn, and lower than the line, if it truly represent the limit of
marine denudation, the connecting gap between the valley and the
coomb could not have been opened by that agency. The difficulty
then does not lie in the depth of the coomb, and the low level of
the connecting gap, but the difficulty is that if the waters took
their course down the coomb when the connecting gap was at the
level of the line in the section, the watershed between the valley
and Urchfont bottom must have been tilted up higher than the
line in the section, and subsequently lowered to its present level,
that is, 90 feet below the line.

and Marlborough Railways. 189

There are two ways by which we may endeavour to explain the
difference between the present level of the watershed at Lydeway, and
what it must have once been; by subderial degradation, lowering the
ground by the action of the weather, rain, streams, &c.; or by an
oscillation of level.

To the first of these causes great importance has been attatched
by Mr. Jukes, who goes so far as to ascribe to it the whole excavation
of certain valleys in the south of Ireland, and to express his belief
that as a general law the lateral valleys (such as the Avon Valley),

_ first began to be formed when the surface waters ran off at a high

level from the dominant ridge, which once occupied the place of
the longitudinal valley (such as the Vale of Pewsey); and that both
lateral valley and longitudinal valley, are due to long continued
wasting by subderial causes only.

Let us see how far facts will bear us out in the supposition that
the ground at Lydeway has been, lowered 90 feet by subderial
degradation.

The flint gravel of Pewsey Common is 157 feet above the Avon

at Rushall. The Avon therefore since it flowed through a con-
necting gap at that level, has lowered its course 157 feet, while the
ground at Lydeway has wasted 90 feet in height. The Avon at
Rushall, a tolerably rapid stream, confined in its course within
narrow limits, and flowing over chalk to a certain extent soluble,
has been at work lowering the valley under favourable conditions.
At Lydeway on the contrary, the land is flat, the streams sluggish
and almost stagnant, and the Loess like drift with which the country
is covered, seems to point toa long period during which the land
has rather gained an accession of height from flood deposits, than

suffered from subdérial degradation. A lowering of 90 feet at the

latter place compared with 157 feet at Rushall, seems then far too

_ great a proportion to be admissible.

_ We must accept the alternative then, that a very large part, if

not all, the lowering of the ground at Lydeway has been caused by
an oscillation of the land. This need excite no surprise when we
- reflect on the changes of level which the land must have undergone
ae 1 Journal Geological Society, Vol. XVIII., page 400.

190 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

since its emergence from the sea. The country to the north of the
Thames and Bristol channel, since the commencement of the
Glacial period, has been depressed at least 600 feet below its present
level, and raised at least 600 feet aboveit. In these oscillations of
level the district under notice must have participated, though
probably not to an extent which would have laid Pewsey Vale
under water. A difference of level of 90 feet between Lydeway
and Rushall is equivalent to 15 feet in a mile, an amount of tilting
which we may easily imagine to have taken place during such
movements as the above.

We have fixed the limit of marine denudation, and the height of
the gap at Rushall through which the Avon first flowed, by the
level of the flint gravel of Pewsey Common. In the absence of
organic remains the age of this is uncertain, but it is as much older
than the post-pliocene gravel of Pewsey Station, as is represented
by a difference of 38 feet in level. Compared with the difference
of level of 67 feet, which we find to exist between the Post-pliocene
gravel at Pewsey Station and the present stream, this would give an
age about one half greater to the flint gravel of Pewsey Common ;
but it is impossible to allow even approximately, for the greater
power which the streams must have had in the earlier times, when
although the artic severity of the earlier portion of the Glacial
period had passed away, a condition of climate giving a far greater
excavating power to the streams must have existed.

Let us now come down to the time of the deposition of the
gravel at Pewsey Station.

The stream at Pewsey, as before stated, has lowered its course 67
feet since the post-pliocene gravel was deposited. The river at
Rushall must have lowered its course as much, or more, in the
same time. In post-pliocene times then it flowed at least 67 feet
above its present level. But its present level at Rushall is 67 feet
below the watershed near Lydeway, so that in post-pliocene times
it flowed at Rushall at a level not lower than the present watershed
near Lydeway.

It may be asked then, what reasons are there for supposing that -
the river flowed down the Avon valley, and not westward at that

and Marlborough Railways. 191

period ? They are these :—in the Avon valley there are patches
and terraces of gravel at Enford, Knighton, Bulford, &c., at consi-
derable heights above the present level of the river. At Bulford
remains of the Mammoth and Tichorhine Rhinoceros have been found,
proving that at the same period when the streams were flowing at
a high level in Pewsey Vale, a river was flowing at a corresponding
level in the Avon valley. The connection of the gravels in the
latter with Pewsey Vale has not yet however been fully traced.

It can be proved in many cases, in fact generally, that the
systems of river drainage were the same before the Glacial-period
as now, and if this case be an exception, we are bound to suppose
that the tilting up of the mouth of the valley to a higher level

than the “col” at Rushall, and the subsequent lowering of the
ground by 90 feet at least, have both taken place since the post-
pliocene period.

It is more reasonable to suppose that the reversal of the drainage
took place earlier, perhaps during the period of quicker upheaval
which is marked by the step between the valley and Urchfont bot-

tom ; and that an oscilliation of level, tending to lower the mouth
_ of the valley, had not, at the time of the deposition of the post-

pliocene gravel at Pewsey Station, yet brought down the watershed
near Lydeway to its present level.

In looking upon the Avon valley in the light of a coomb, we
must bear in mind, that itis the river action which has caused the
sudden bends which occur in the course of the Avon. At only 90
feet above its present level, the river would flow in a straight line

over the high ground near Durrington, avoiding Bulford altogether ;
and at much lower level than this, the bends at Amesbury, &c.,
would be avoided. There is no reason for supposing the original
coomb to have been more tortuous than many others.
On the northern side of the valley, the boundary between the
Upper-green-sand and Chalk, forms a very irregular line in the
_ Geological Survey Map. There is a very striking connection
between its irregularites and its level. Whenever the line rises in
level, there is a corresponding set back in plan, and vice versd. Thus,
from Horton to Wilcot the level of the outcrop is about the same

—s, ee Les

da

192 The Geology of the Berks & Hants Extension,

except near All Cannings, when the level falls 50 feet and rises
again, and the outcrop line juts out a mile into the valley and
recedes again. Between Wilcot and Hewish, the level rises 70 feet
and the line falls back 14 miles. From Hewish round Martinsell,
there is no great difference in the level of the outcrop; but between
Martinsell and Brimslade, there is a rise of 30 feet accompanied by
a set back of 3 mile near Clench. Near Rrimslade the outcrop line
reaches its greatest elevation, and from this point to Crofton En-
gine, there is a regular fall of 115 feet, with as regular a contraction
of the valley. On the high ground above the highest point in the
outcrop line, the westernmost outlier of the London Tertiary basin
occurs.

The alterations of level in the outcrop line are too sudden to be
due to anything but faults, yet there are no traces of them on the
surface ; subsequent denudation has so effectually masked them, that
it is useless to speculate on their probable course.

The connection between the level of the line of outcrop and its
position on plan becomes intelligible, when we consider what the
effect would be of marine denudation acting sometimes above, and
sometimes below the outcrop line. In the former case, the hard
Lower-chalk would be eroded, while in the latter caseit would be -
the Upper-green-sand ; with what increased undermining and wide-
ning of the sides of the valley may easily be conceived.

On the southern side of the valley the outcrop line is at a lower
level than marine denudation could have reached, and the only
irregularities on plan are at the mouth of the Avon valley

That part of the valley of denudation which lies to the east of
Burbage, is drained by a tributary of the Kennet, which traverses
the Chalk from Crofton Engine to Hungerford. The upper end of
the valley was not deepened by marine agency to so great an extent
as the more seaward portions. The lowest point on the watershed
which runs from Durley through Burbage to Southgrove, is 30 feet
above the line drawn across the section fig. 9, and there are many
points about Burbage, where the Upper-green-sand attains a height
of 100 feet above that line, or 550 above the sea level. This is not
much lower than the surrounding chalk table land, which is here

+A y

and Marlborough Railways. 193

lower than it is to the westward. The passage by which the drain-
age’ leaves the valley at Crofton Engine, is 116 feet higher than

the corresponding point at Rushall. It is now, after having been
considerably deepened by the action of the stream, a wide open
valley like many others at equal or greater depths in the chalk;
and its formation by the same process as that suggested in the case
of the Avon valley offers no difficulty.

The conclusions to which the above considerations have led me,
may be shortly stated thus :—

_ The Vale of Pewsey was excavated to a great extent by marine
denudation.

The period at which this was accomplished was between the
deposition of the Lower Eocene beds, and the Boulder clay; the
valley being of the same age as the great Chalk escarpment.

The drainage, turned back by an oscillation of level, found its
way through a gap between the valley, and the head of a coomb,

- caused in a great measure by marine denudation.

_ the emergence of the valley from the sea,
_ post-pliocene period.

‘
‘

The time of the reversal of the drainage was probably soon after

certainly before the

The lowering of the watershed near Lydeway by 90 feet at least,

since the river first flowed through the Avon valley, is due rather
to an oscillation of level than to sub-derial degradation.

aS

Finally, although the conclusions to which [ have arrived may
be disputed, the facts on which they are founded, are I believe, ©
incontestable, and are available for other attempts to trace out the

~ Geological history of the district. Itis only after repeated attempts,

&

q
ir

_ and perhaps failures, that the whole truth can be elicited.

>,
~~)

‘VOL. IX.—NO, XXVI. P

194

ON THE

Carly Aife of Sir Thomas Latyrence, PAF.

By Mr. T. B. Suirz.

HAVE been requested to prepare for publication the

following particulars of the early life of the late Sir
Thomas Lawrence. The circumstances under which they were
originally collected are these. About a month after Lawrence’s
death, I was asked by Mr. Thomas Campbell, then Poet Laureate,
whether I could help him in a life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, which
he intended to publish, by supplying him with any particulars as
to the painter’s boyhood. I replied that I thought I could, and
shortly afterwards obtained the following reminiscences from my
wife’s aunt, who was then living, at a very advanced age, at Melks-
ham. Campbell’s design was subsequently abandoned, and these
reminiscences are now given for the first time to the public, as
nearly as possible in the words of the narrator, Mrs. Nalder.

“The late Sir Thomas Lawrence was the youngest of five children,
there being besides him, Andrew, a clergyman; William, a major
in the army, who died a few years ago; and Lucy, and Ann, who
are, I believe, still living. Their father, Thomas Lawrence, was
originally an exciseman, and eloped with his wife, who was the
daughter of a clergyman of the name of Read, at Tenbury.

“T think it must have been about the year 1765 that I went to
reside with Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence: at that time they kept the
White Lion Inn, and American Coffee House, at Bristol. I
remained with them about two years. Some time after this,
Mr. Lawrence wrote to me that he had taken the Black Bear Inn,
at Devizes, and that he should be very glad if I would come to
them there at once, to superintend the bar, and to assist his wife in
the domestic arrangements of the establishment. I accepted the
proposal, and on my arrival, saw for the first time the late President

~Photoiithograph of’ a Crayon drawing by Sir Thoinas Lawrence,
in the possession of H.Kent. Norris Esa., Devizes
by Vincent Brooks

By Mr. T. B. Smith. 195

of the Royal Academy. then a very beautiful and engaging child
between two and three years of age. He was a boy of remarkably
fascinating manner, and frequently amused himself by endeavouring
to draw little pictures on paper with a blacklead pencil.

“T perfectly recollect, as I was one afternoon sitting alone in the
bar, watching him whip his top in the entrance hall, his running up
to me, and saying, ‘ Miss Lea,’ (that was my maiden name), sit as
as-you are, and I will draw your picture. I did as he desired, and
in a few minutes he produced what was always considered an
excellent likeness of me. He was at that time in petticoats, and I
think not more than four years of age. I shall never forget the
pleasure with which his father caressed him when shewn this his
first attempt to portray the “human face divine.” He snatched it
from the table, and ran out of the house to purchase a frame for it.
It hung for some time in the bar, and was much admired by persons
frequenting the Inn. I subsequently gave it to one of my brothers
on his going abroad, and it was lost, with all the rest of his property,
in the French Revolution of 1790.

“ The next likeness whch young Lawrence executed, was that of
your mother’s first husband, Mr. Benett Swayne. These portraits,
I think I may venture to affirm, were the foundation on which the
painter’s future fame was raised, as from this time numbers of
persons became anxious to have their likenesses taken by a child in
petticoats, and the reputation which he thereby acquired, was the
cause of his talents being at length directed solely to that occupation

which nature had so distinctly pointed out for him.

“The crayon picture which I now present to you, was done by
young Lawrence when about 14 years of age. It is one of the first
which he executed in this style, for which he used to charge three
guineas, frame included. It is a portrait of Miss White, who
afterwards married the Rev. W. Jacobs, Rector of Shillingstone,

Dorsetshire. Her father at that time kept the Castle Inn, at

’

“Marlborough, and between him and Mr. Lawrence there existed a
degree of intimacy which induced the young artist to bestow especial

_ pains upon the picture. It was given me by Mrs. Jacobs herself.

Many years afterwards, at an interview which I-had with Sir
4 P2

196 On the Early Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

Thomas in Town, he enquired what had become of it, and expressed
a hope, when. he eame into Wiltshire, of being able to call upon me,
and look again at one of his earliest productions.

“‘ And here I can not help remarking on the great kindness with
which I have always been received by the late President whenever
I called upon him, which was as often as I visited London, and the
pleasure which he took in describing to me the portraits on which
I found him engaged.”

[To this testimony of the kindness of Sir Thomas Lawrence, I
must be permitted to add my own. On Mrs. Nalder’s last visit to
him in town, she was speaking of my fondness for paintings, when
he very kindly gave her a note for me as an introduction to his
studio, in case I should call when he was from home. ‘This
introduction however I never had an opportunity of presenting,
but gave it to the Queen when I sold her the picture of Miss White,
as I shall presently relate. |

“ To return to the artist’s boyish days. I often remember his
father saying with tears in his eyes, when looking at his early
productions, that he had no doubt but that I should live to see him
a great man, though he himself might not. And years afterwards,
when Sir Thomas was lodging in Piccadilly, and his portraits were
beginning to engage the attention of the fashionable world, I called
upon his father in Gerard-street, Soho, and was reminded by him
of the predictions which he had so often uttered, in the Bear Inn
at Devizes, of the future greatness of his son.

“ With regard to the elder Lawrence himself, I may add, that he
was a man of somewhat eccentric habits. Although remarkably
neat in his dress and general appearance, yet he had so great an
aversion to new clothes, that whenever his wife noticed that any
portion of his attire was getting worn or shaby, she used to send to
the tailor to replace it, effecting the exchange while he was asleep.
He was remarkably fond of politics, theatricals, and recitations, and
prided himself on his readings of Milton and Shakespeare. He was
also a great favourite of Garrick’s, who frequently visited the house,
staying sometimes a week or a fortnight at a time, during one of
which visits he presented his host with a folio copy of the Spectator,

By Mr. T. B. Smith. 197

to which the latter as may be imagined, attached ever afterwards

great value.

“So fond was Mr. Lawrence of books, that in sittintaes every room
in the house there was a bookcase, containing a choice selection of
volumes for the use both of his guests and of his personal friends.”

Such are the particulars which I obtained from my dear and
respected friend, who died a few weeks after she had related them
to me. I have often since regretted that I had not drawn her
attention to the subject before her faculties were dimmed by age,
as she could then doubtless have given me much information which
had, in 1830, entirely escaped her memory.

Sir Thomas Lawrence was born at Bristol in the year 1769. Of
the geniality of his father’s character, I heard much from the late
Sir Robert Blagrove, with whom I spent an evening at the Bear
Hotel, Devizes, some 22 years ago. Sir Robert told me that when
a subaltern, he had been recruiting at Devizes, and was quartered
at the Bear for nearly three months. Though upwards of 80 years
of age at the time that I met him, he proved to be a most lively

and entertaining companion, and, amongst other things entertained

' me by singing with great heartiness the chorus of a song, with
which, he ome “the jolly old landlord used to ‘amuse him in his
younger days.” —

Some references having been made in Waylen’s History of
Devizes,' to the sale of the portrait of Miss White, of which mention
has been made above, the following additional particulars of the

_ sale may perhaps not be considered out of place.

It having become generally known that this picture had been
sent to the Duchess of Kent, and the Princess Victoria, for their
B “inspection during their visit to Earlstoke Park, in 1830, it became »
an object of considerable interest, and on the sale of the Earlstoke
collection two years later, Mr. George Robbins, the auctioneer,
; wished me to allow it to be included in the catalogue. This I declined
todo. Itis somewhat remarkable that among so valuable a collection
_ of paintings as that possessed by the late Mr. Watson Taylor, there
‘should have been only one by Sir Thomas Lawrence, (a portrait of
1 History of Devizes, 1859, p. 453.

sy paan

198 On the Early Lije of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

Ear] Camden, whose private secretary Mr. Watson Taylor had been
during the Earl’s lord-lieutenancy of Ireland in 1798.) While
this sale was going on, a picture dealer called upon me, and after a
minute examination of the portrait of Miss White, offered me 150
guineas for it. I however deciined the offer, as I had made up my
mind, whenever I sold it, to give the refusal to the Queen. In
1839 I addressed a letter to Lord Melbourne, then First Lord of
the Treasury, on the subject. The matter was by him referred to
Sir Henry Wheatley, the keeper of her Majesty’s Privy Purse, and
in a few days the bargain was brought to a close, and the portrait
placed in the picture gallery at Buckingham Palace. Sir Henry
informed me next day that Her Majesty was very well pleased
with the purchase, and had been comparing it with a sketch which
she had herself made of the picture when lent to her at Earlstoke
Park.
On the back of the canvass is the following autograph :
‘‘ Be pleased to keep this picture
from the damp and from the sun.”

T. Lawrence, 15th Sept., 1784.

Sir Henry Wheatley shewed me on this occasion, a most excellent
likeness of himself, in full regimentals, by Lawrence, for which
1000 guineas had been paid. This was one of the painter’s last
productions.

I may here perhaps be allowed to insert some letters referring to
that period in Lawrence’s career, when he had first begun to attract
attention in London. They were addressed by his father to the
Rev. Dr. Kent, a worthy clergyman of rather eccentric habits, who
then lived at Whistley House, in the parish of Potterne, near
Devizes. Among other eccentricites he always rode on a white
horse. The doctor and his horse appear to have attracted the
young artist’s notice ; as one day Dr. Kent rode up to the Bear Inn,
Devizes, which was at that time kept by Mr. Lawrence Sen., and
demanded in an authoritative manner to be shown a caricature of
himself and horse, which he heard was in Mr. Lawrence’s posses-
sion. Mr. Lawrence suspecting his son Tom had been exercising his
pencil at the doctor’s expense, called him from his play and asked

aaa
. By Mr. T. B. Smith. 199°

him if he had ever drawn the likeness of that gentleman and his
horse ? Tom said he believed he had, and taking the enquirers into
his bedroom they there found, sketched on one of the walls thereof,
avery excellent picture of the doctor and his favourite white
charger.
Dr Kent was so pleased with this acta: that he immedi-
ately took young Lawrence to the shop of a bookseller, Mr.
_ Burrough, Mr. Smith’s grandfather, and there made him a present
of the first box of colours he ever possessed, and also a choice
selection of books. The Rev. Doctor’s friendship was from this
time of the most substantial and useful kind to the young artist
and his family, and terminated only at the doctor’s death,
Shortly after this first introduction Dr. Kent received from his
protégé a very spirited head of our Saviour sketched in chalk. It
; is in an oval frame 9 in. by 7 in. and it has written on the
_ back of it by Lawrence,
«Dr. Kent is requested to accept this trifle from his grateful
i friend and servant. : T. LAWRENCE, JUN.
3 This picture, which is one of the earliest of his productions extant,
: is now in the possession of Henry Kent Norris, Esq., of Devizes, a
relative of the doctor’s, and would prove a very valuable addition
to any collection of the works of the late Sir Thomas.’
i With this introduction I proceed to give the letters, the originals
of which are at present in Mr. Norris’s possession.

_ Rey. Dear Sir,—Although I begin with hoping most sincerely that you are
well and happy, I wish to inform you that next Wednesday will be a very
flattering day to my youngest son, from the opening of the Royal Exhibition to
which their Majesties mean to go to-morrow, and will see of his portraits of
the Queen, of the Princess Amelia, the sons of Lord Ducie Moreton, sons and
daughter of Lord George Cavendish, son and daughter of the Earl of Abercorne,
Gen. Patterson, a-Mr. Laskar in the East India Service, the celebrated
_ Mrs. Carter, Mr. Locke, Andrew Lawrence, and Miss Farren, for which last he
_ is to receive one hundred guineas, and he has now with the most general appro-
bation raised his price to 20, 40 and fourscore guineas, with plenty of business
_ to go on at these prices, being the highest ever known in this or any other
kingdom at his age, who will be one and twenty the 6th May, on which day
would you be pleased to have your money lodged with Messrs. Hoare, or
remitted to you (with very grateful thanks!) by the post.

1 The Society is indebted to Mr- Norris for permission to copy this drawing by
photo-lithographic process. The engraving accompanies the present paper.

200 On the Early Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

My son will continue in Jermyn Street, in the mean time we have taken an
excellent house and a cheap at 100 guineas a year, taxes included, within two
doors of Soho Square, in Greck Street, and have let a small part of it toa
Single gentleman at 60 guineas, and mean to furnish the remainder, neat and
plain, as we conveniently can, and have always every convenience for your

reception, when you shall be pleased to honor with your company (and for as_

long a time as you please) which I hope will take place in 3 weeks at farthest.
I have other franks directed to you, viz. for the 26th, the 30th, and May 6th,
and will therefore close my present account with assuring you how very much
I am, ever your’s,
With the most perfect respect and gratitude,
T. LAWRENCE.
Wife and children always join their best wishes and readiest services.

Rey. Dear Sir,—I received the favour of your’s and am truly and very much
concerned for your being so much troubled and distressed, and most sincerely
wish a speedy end to all of them and a succession of blessed peace and perfect
happiness. ,

I wished for your company yesterday at the Chapel of the Foundling Hospital,
where the devotion, preaching and singing, work altogether for the benefit of
the hearer, and leave the mind in a state of tranquility and hnmble resignation
to the divine will. Wednesday, will most assuredly become a day of triumph
to our youngest son: for then, the exhibition opens, but to-morrow is the public
dinner, which will be held in the grand room, where Sir Joshua will sit at the
head of the table, at his right hand the Prince of Wales. and on his left the
Primate and Metropolitan of all England, and to which treat a much greater

number are invited than was before ever known with only three excuses returned.

Their Majesties and the Princesses were there on Friday and expressed the
highest degree of satisfaction: in short itis spoke of as the best.

All my son’s pictures were received, being twelve in number, while many
others were rejected for want of room.

I am informed that Sir Joshua dwelt in contemplation on the merits of one of
his pieces for upwards of 20 minutes, and when it was told him that another
artist endeavoured to copy after him in his manner, his reply was ‘‘ They may
all study after him, but in his opinion they would never overtake him.”

It is the united wish of this family, to be favored with your company, and in
very deed I most sincerely hope it would prove a pleasing relaxation to all your
care, whieh we, in our little way, but accompanied with our very best endeavours,
would alleviate if we could not remove. Pray write more fully for so you have
now promised.

I told you what wonders the Haunted Tower was like to enact : it is advertised
for the four and fiftieth time.

The Nation is like to continue at peace, and the stocks continue to rise.

No payment for the Queen or Princess yet, but his business increases most
rapidly at 20 guineas a head, which is a greater price than was ever charged by
Sir Godfrey Kneller—surprising at his age, but as Hamlet says, something too
much of this.

Lady Lincoln for change of air is come to Sunning Hill near Windsor, and
Luey with her, who we expect soon in town for a short time, and Tom has given

By Mr. T. B. Smith. — 201

_ Nanny an invitation at his expense to give her the meeting, who pleads attention
to duty an exouse. My son will inclose agreeably to your’s, with the most
grateful acknowledgements, on the 6th of May, and I am

‘ Ever so, Rev. Dear Sir,
Tos. LAWRENCE.

26th April, 1790.

Rey. Dear Sir,—Words are wanting to express my sense of gratitude to
Heaven and to the world, for the great name my son has so wonderfully
acquired from the opening of the exhibition. That you may form a judgment
of my reason for being thus thankful, I herewith present you with extracts
from different papers of yesterday that I have seen. N.B. It opened on
Wednesday.

The Diary says :—

“Mr. Lawrence, young as he is, treads close already on the kibe of the most
eminent of the profession. Such a head as that of Mr. Locke, painted as we
understand at a single sitting, and such a portrait as Miss Farren’s, might create

_enyy in the mind of the first artist that ever existed.
‘We have seen a great variety of pictures of Miss Farren; but we never
saw before her mind and character upon canvass. It is completely Elizabeth
_ Farren, arch, careless, spirited, elegant, and engaging.”
The Oracle, after speaking of Sir Joshua’s performances, proceeds :—
“Tf any picture from another pencil can do thus, itis the claim, we say~this
_ with astonishment!—of young Lawrence. For this delightful whole length of
_ Miss Farren, which for winning ease, for expressive attitude, for the mind’s
eye, and that peculiar style of feature so difficult to catch, of sweetness
_ without insanity and spirit without, distortion, can never be exceeded.”
The Morning Herald :-—
‘‘The portrait of Miss Farren, by Mr. Lawrence, possesses great merit, and
is extremely characteristic. The back ground is very fine.”
The Morning Chronicle, after speaking of Sir Joshua, says of Lawrence.
‘The picture of Her Majesty, No. 100, is admirable in point of likeness.
_ The drapery is well disposed, but the landscape will admit of improvement.
The full length of Miss Farren, is an excellent production: he hath given all
- the richness and fascination of the original with exquisite effect.”
¥ _ “ Of the other portraits, that of his brother the clergyman, is by far the best.
This egg with respect to likeness and colouring, is, we had almost said

bP ¥ Bich he gave-a year ago. We cannot speak with sufficient commendations of
the beauties he hath exhibited. Miss Farren is one of the most delightful

4 _ portraits we eyer saw. The Queen is a most perfect likeness, and the small

peel i is a cabinet jewel.”

‘The World “The best portrait in oils, are Mr. Cholmondley, guy gar ha 8

202 On the Early Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

his portraits. That of the Queen by this artist, is certainly a performance of
which Vandyke himself would have been proud.”

London Evening—‘‘ Lawrence hath improved since last year, astonishingly !
His portrait of Miss Farren yields to none in the room—That of the Queen has
already been mentioned by the public ; and these, with the other portraits, speak
him one of the most promising geniuses of the age. That Lawrence bids fair to
be the first portrait painter, in the kingdom, is not saying too much.”

The Times to-day, (with which I will conclude) says of the portraits,—‘‘ those
of the Queen, by Lawrence and Russell, and that of Miss Farren likewise, by
Lawrence, appear to be the best.”

You will perceive by the catalogue the great number of artists, and then judge
of the grateful surprise of

Rey. Dear Sir, your most devoted Servant,
30th April, 1790. THOS. LAWRENCE.

Rev. Dear Sir.—I this morning met B. D., Esq.1 He has not been wanting
in his polite attention towards us, consequently communicating your good
wishes.

We went together to the Royal Exhibition, where I communicated to him a
little of my intelligence extraordinary, and he in return uttered his thoughts
respecting when the town would have occasion to mourn his absence, which
would not be these 4 or 5 days, and that he would call at 57, Greek Street, in
the intermediate space.

He was going to visit at the habitation of the Prime Minister, where I, having
no pretensions, we on that account agreed to bid farewell.

I cannot sufficiently express my satisfaction, and you believe me, at the great
name my son has so deservedly acquired: he is, in a manner, become the theme
of every applauding tongue. But more of this when I shall have the grateful
pleasure of waiting upon you where your last favor was addressed, and where I
hope you will sleep with the most pleasing composure, and attended with the
most grateful welcome by all.

Iam, Rev. dear Sir, ever your’s,

4th June, 1790. T, LAWRENCE.

P.S. We have no encouragement to return for any impertinent enquiries
that may be made, I will (may I not?) hope for the favor of seeing you very
suddenly.

Tom is going this day, to drink the health of his Majesty, where Sir Joshua
will be the toast maker.

The Rev. Dr. Kent,* Whisley, Devizes, Wilts.

1 B. D., Esq., I suspect, is meant for Bernard Dickenson, of Bowden Park, near Devizes, who was
intimately accquainted with both Dr. Kent and Mr. Lawrence.

*It appears that Dr. Kent died in 1799, and was buried at Potterne. In the elegant parish church
of that place we find a marble monument erected to his memory, from which we have extracted the
following .—

Henry Kent, D.D., died 27th Dec., 1799, aged 81 years,

Aftera long life passed in literary pursuits, his end was accompanied by acts of benevolence, of
which his relations and friends were partakers.

Nor were the poor omitted in his bequests, as the divers sums given by his last will to the hospi-
tals of Sarum and Bath, to the Society for the benefit of Clergyman’s Widows and Orphans in this
Diocese, the needy in this and the neighbouring parishes, besides other charitable donations, bear
testimony.

He left also to Merton College, Oxford, of which he was formerly fellow, all his valuable and
extensive library, together with a handsome sum for its augumentation.

a . By Mr. T. B. Smith. 208

To return to the subject of this paper. Lawrence was elected a
Royal Academician in 1790. It appears however to have been the
wish of George III. that this honour should have been conferred
upon him some two or three years earlier ; a fact which gave rise
to the publication of some “ Loyal Odes to Disloyal Academician,”
from the caustic pen of Peter Pindar. They are 18 in number.
The following is an extract from the introduction.

“The foundation of the following Odes is simply this. The
President of the Royal Academy reported lately to the Acade-
micians his Majesty’s desire that a Mr. Lawrence might be added
to the list of the R.A., his Majesty being perfectly convinced of the
young artist’s uncommon abilities, and consequent fair pretensions
to the honour. Notwithstanding the royal wish, and the wish of
the President, and the wish of Mr. Benjamin West, the R.A.
received the annunciation of his Majesty’s wish, Sir Joshua’s
wish, and Mr. West’s wish, with the most ineffable sangfroid, not
to call it by the karder name, disgust. The annunciation happening
on the night of an election cf associates, at which Mr. Lawrence,
ought to have been elected an associate, (a step neccessary to the

more exalted one of R.A.) the number of votes for Mr. Lawrence
amounted to 3, and that of his opponent, Mr. Wheatley, to 16.”
In these Odes I find Lawrence’s name mentioned only twice.

‘¢ Refuse a. monarch’s mighty orders!
‘Tt smells of treason !—on rebellion borders!
4 ‘S death, Sirs! it was the Queen’s fond wish as well
f ‘That Master Lawrence * should come in!
*¢ Against a Queen so gentle to rebel,
‘This is another crying sin!
‘© What! not oblige in such a trifling thing
‘*So sweet a Queen, and such a goodly King!”

Ode i.

“Go, Sirs, with halters round your wretched necks,
‘‘ Which some contrition for your crime bespeaks,

‘And much offended Majesty implore.
‘Say, piteous, kneeling in the Royal view,
‘«« Have pity on a sad abandoned crew,

“¢ And we, great King, will sin no more,
‘«¢ Forgive, dread Sire, the crying sin,
*¢¢ And Mister Lawrence shall come in!’ ”

Ode xvii.
“® A young portrait painter of some-merit. P,P.”

204 On the Early Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

The reputation which Lawrence had acquired subsequently
induced the Prince Regent to commission him to paint the portraits
of the Sovereigns, Statesmen, and Generals, who had been actively
engaged in the last great contests with Napoleon. He commenced
his labours in 1814 with the portraits of the King of Prussia, of
Platoff, and of Blucher, who were then in England. In 1818 he
proceeded to the Congress at Aix la Chapelle, thence to Vienna, and
in 1819 to Rome, where he completed the series with the portraits
of Pope Pius VII and of Cardinal Consalvo. All these pictures are
now, I believe, in the Waterloo hall, at Windsor Castle. Mr.
Lockhart gives the following account of this commission in his life
of Sir Walter Scott. ‘‘On Scott’s arrival in London in 1820, one
of his first visitors was Sir Thomas Lawrence, who informed him
that the King (George IV) had resolved to adorn the great Gallery
then in progress at Windsor Castle, with portraits, by his hand,
of his Majesty’s most distinguished contemporaries. All the reign-
ing mouarchs in Europe, and their chief ministers and generals had
already sat for this purpose. On the same walls the King desired
to see exhibited those of his own subjects who had attained the
highest honours of literature and science, and it was his pleasure
that the series should commence with Walter Scott.” .

Lawrence received the honour of Knighthood from the Prince
Regent in 1815 ; was elected President of the Royal Academy in
1820; and died in London, after a very short illness, on the 7th of
January, 1830.

It remains only that I should add a few words as to the personal
appearance of the late President, though as I never myself saw
him, I am only able to repeat what I have heard from others. I
have already said that, as a child, he was remakable for his beauty,
and his engaging manners; As a man he was a general favourite
with ladies, and was always pleased to be in their society, though
he never married. When in the prime of life, he was an exceedingly
handsome and well built man. His features were open, with a
commanding expression, yet kind, conciliatory, and captivating
Of his conversation, Sir Walter Scott once said, “‘ He is, from the
habit of coaxing his sitters, I suppose, a little too fair spoken,

_ Report for 1864. 205

_ otherwise very pleasant.” His manners were most courteous. And
I can not better bring this brief sketch to an end than by repeating
the eulogium once passed upon him by King George IV.—
“‘ Lawrence is the most perfect gentleman in my Dominions.”

q

v

;

:

-

SN Thursday evening, November, 24th, 1864, the Annual
oe Meeting of the Society was held at the Town-Hall, Devizes.
Dr. Thurnam, one of the Council, took the chair.

The first business was the adoption of the

REPORT FOR 1864,

_ which was read by Mr. Cunnington. It was as follows :—
“Tn presenting a brief report of the progress of the Wiltshire
Archeological and Natural History Society, the Committee has
_ great pleasure in once more recording the continued and uninter-
rupted prosperity of the Society.
“With respect to finance, your Coasts is able to speak
_ satisfactorily, the expenditure of the past twelvemonth not having
exceeded the income derived from the subscriptions; while the
3 sale of ‘ The Wiltshire Collections, by Aubrey and Canon Jackson,’
is gradually repaying the outlay which the publication of that
excellent work caused. A balance sheet will shortly be in the
hands of members, which will more fully prove this general
- statement.
“In regard to publications, there have been three further
- numbers of the Magazine issued since the annual meeting of last
_ year, which it is hoped are not inferior to their predecessors. The
Magazine has also been considerably enriched by the addition of a
; very full and accurate Index, with which Canon Jackson has
closed the eighth volume, enhancing beyond measure the value of
‘the work as a book of reference. ”
“Tt has already been explained that the abandonment of the

206 Report for 1864.

general Annual Congress this year, which had been fixed for
Salisbury, was deemed advisable in consequence of the meeting of
the ‘ British Association for the advancement of Science,’ at Bath,
and it was thought by your Committee that so great an attraction
as that popular Association offers, occurring on the very borders of
our county, would clash with any local gathering for kindred
objects, and render the attempt of any provincial meeting inex-
pedient. But your Committee looks forward to the Salisbury
meeting next year as one which promises much interest and offers
considerable stores of archeological research hitherto unexplored.

“In conclusion your Committee once more desires to impress upon
members of this Society its earnest desire to enlist a more general
amount of help from all quarters, and in all the numerous branches
which compose its two main sources of enquiry. It is only by
united action and by the assistance of many, that such a work as that
carried on by an Archeological and Natural History Society can be
satisfactorily completed ; and it is confidently hoped that from all
sides such assistance may be rendered by those interested in these
matters, as may ultimately result in more extended acquaintance
with our county, whether in regard to its antiquities, in which it
stands pre-eminent above all other counties, or in regard to its
Natural History, a considerable portion of which still remains to
be investigated. Until it has attained both these desirable objects
to the furthest extent within its power, your Committee is resolved
not to relax its efforts; and in carrying out this resolution, it once
more appeals to its members to contribute facts which have come
within their own knowledge ; and which would (if recorded) fur-
nish some of the many links which are required to complete the
History of Wiltshire.”

[It was parenthetically added by Mr. Cunnington that the cost
of printing “The Wiltshire Collections,” had amounted to £545
7s. Od.; and that the balance in hand was £180. ]

The Vice-Presidents were then re-elected, with the addition of
R. S. Holfe d, Esq., of Weston-Birt, and T. H. A. Poynder, Esq.,
of Hartham Park.

The Rev. A. C. Smith and Mr. Cunnington were elected General
Seeretaries.

a

Annual Meeting for 1864. 207

The Local Secretaries were then re-appointed, the names of Mr.
Harris of Calne, and of Mr. Frank Morgan of Warminster, being
added to the list.

The council was appointed as follows:—Mr. T. B. Anstie, Mr.
R. Coward, Rev. B. C. Dowding, Mr. W. Ewart, M.P., Rev. W.
Ewart, Rev. W. H. Jones, (Bradford), Mr. Meek, Mr. Merewether,
Rev. W. C, Plenderleath, Rev. W. H. Teale, Dr. Thurnham, and
Mr. Wittey.

F. A. S. Locks, Esq. was chosen as Treasurer, in the place of
the late Lieut.-Colonel Olivier.

It was stated, in connection with the meeting at Salisbury next
year, that Mr. Matcham had proposed that an effort should be
made to obtain a congress of archeologists from all parts of this
country, and from Brittany and other places where Druidical
remains existed, so as, if possible, to obtain further information on
the subject of Stonehenge.

With reference to the restoration of Stonehenge, Mr. CunnineTon
said that the proposition made by Mr. Scarth was only to restore
the large trilithon that fell in 1798, and in doing that the other
stones would not be interfered with. With regard to the expense,
Mr. Scarth had set a subscription on foot, and an engineer had
given an estimate from which it appeared that the cost would be
much less than was at first expected.

Dr. Tuurnam thought that while they were about it, it might
be desirable to examine all the stones now in position and to test

_ their stability. If found imperfect they should be rendered more

stable by ramming and other means, so as to enable them to resist
the action of the wind and weather. They might also take the

opportunity of raising the altar stone, (afterwards replacing it in

its present position,) to ascertain if anything was to be found
underneath it. It was now a fashionable theory with many
archeologists that Stonehenge had not been a place of heathen
worship, but merely a burying place. Stewart and others were of
opinion that it was a large tomb, and Geoffrey of Monmouth had
_ thought it probable that Aurelius Ambrosius and others were

_ interred within the area of Stonehenge.

208 | Report for 1864.

Two of the papers which had been prepared, viz., by the Rev.
A. C. Smith, on “ Birds;” and by Professor Buckland, on “Roman
_ Remains and Coins,” were not read, but the CuarrMman said they
they would appear in the next number of the Wiltshire Magazine.

A paper by Dr. Thurnam was then read on “an Incised
Marking on the impost of the great Trilithon, at Stonehenge.’’
This will appear in the next number of the Wiltshire Magazine.

Mr. Cunnineton then gave a description of the flint imple-
ments which had been recently found at Milford Hill, near
Salisbury, by workmen engaged in digging the foundations of some
villas erected there. They were deposited in a bed of gravel which |
had plainly been at one time the bed of a river; and with them
were also found bones of the extinct Rhinoceros and. Mammoth.

It is very remarkable that this deposit is as much as 80 feet
above the present bed of the river Avon, which flows hard by.
Amongst the flints lately found are some of the finest implements
of that description ever seen: they have been deposited by
Dr. Blackmore and Mr. James Brown, in the Salisbury and South
Wilts Museum.

Query—FAMILY or SHUTER, or WintTersournE GUNNER.

A correspondent’ would be glad to receive information relative
to John Shuter, Esq., M.P., for Andover in the 19th and 21st of
James I., and Ist and 2nd Charles I.

In the list of names to lend money to the King, 1611 (see
Wiltshire Magazine, ii., p. 184), is the name of John Shuter of
Winterbourne-Gunner, Esq., £20.

Are there any records of the family in this parish P

209

Donations to the Ausenm and Pibravy.

The Council have pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the following

_ Donations presented to the Society.

By the Rey. E. H. M. Stapen, Alton Barnes :—
Notes and Queries (second series), 12 vols., 1856—61, 4to. On the germi-
nation, developement, &c., of the Higher Cryptogamia, by Hofmeister, trans-
lated by Currey (Ray Society 1862), 1 vol. Svo. Williamson’s “ Recent
Foraminifera.” (Ray Society 1857.) Allman’s Freshwater Polyzoa” (Ray
Society 1856.) Huxtry’s ‘‘ Oceanic Hydrozoa” (Ray Society 1858.)

By J. Epwarps, Ese., Amesbury :—‘‘ The character of Moses established for
veracity as an historian,” by the Rev. J. Townsend, Rector of Pewsey, 1 vol,

4to,, 1813.

_ By the Kixenny AncuoxnoeicaL Socrery:—Their Proceedings, No. 46,

October, 1864.

_ By the Socrery or Antiquartes oF Scortanp:—Their Proceedings, vol. i,

i part 1.

_ Essex Arcumonoeican Socrery:—Their Proceedings, vol. iii., part 4.

_ By Luewettyn Jewitt, Ese., Derby:—‘‘The Reliquary,” No. 20, April,

p>. 1865.

By the Socrery or AntIquaRies oF NEwcastLe on Tyne :—“ Archeologia
Céliana,” part 20.

By the Kenr ArcH®oLoeicaL Socrety :—‘‘ Archwologia Cantiana,” vol. v.,

| 1862—3,

_ By Wanxgam Locke, Ese. :—Conger eel, weight 44lbs., caught at Christchurch,

Hants. Two spotted Dog-fish, caught at Christchurch. Pike, weight 25lbs.

caught in the Avon. 13 specimens of Fossils from the Lias.

_ By Miss Fatxwen:—Specimens from the interior of Silbury Hill, obtained in

1849. Specimens of the stones of Stonehenge. Fragments of bone and

__ concrete, found in the area of Stonehenge. Great Seal of James I.

By N. J. Htenmorg, Esq., M.D. :—Fossil Sponge from Warminster.

Donations have also been received from A. Stratton, Esq., Rushall; J. Y.

Akerman, Esq., F.S.A., Abingdon ; Mr. B. Mullings, Devizes; T. B. Flower,

Esq., Bath ; T. Codrington, Esq., F.G.S., Oxford; Rev. W. Ewart, Bishop
Cannings ; Mr. 8. Butler, Stitchcomb.

By Marswatt Hatt, Esq.:—Medal struck to commemorate the capture of

Porto Bello, by Admiral Vernon; found at Blacklands Park, in 1858,

‘]

H. BULL, Printer and Publisher, Devizes.

Errata in Mr, FLowen’s paper, on the “ Structure of the Composite.’””

Page 162, line 32. For “suer,” read “sun.”

», 165, line 27. Read ‘the lamina of which is mostly abortive.”
9, 166, line 10. For ‘“‘ where,” read “ when,”

» 9) line 21. For “from without upwards,” read ‘from without in-
wards.”’

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WILTSHIRE
Archeological ont Batueal Wistory
MAGAZINE,

7
|
3

No. XXVII. JANUARY, 1866. Vor. IX.
Contents.

PAGE

- Onnrrnonocy or Wix7S, No. 12, [Insessores continued. Fissirostres. ]
_ By the Rev. A. C. Smith .........sseeeesseeeeesecerses nesses 211-222
Witsurre Arms anv Descents: By Mr. Clarence Hopper.....--- 223-231

- _ Roman Remarns Founp aT Larton, Wits: By Professor Buckman,
F.LS., F.G.S., FSA. 20.0 see ececeeeeceeenee: seeernse senees 232-237

Frora or Witrsnrre (No. IX): By T. B. Flower, Esq., M.R.C.8S... 288-268
. An InciseD MARKING ON THE Imposr oF THE GREAT TRILITHON
i" ar SronenEeNce: By John Thurnam, Esq., M.D., F.S.A....-- -- 268-277
_—s Tasr or WILTSHIRE FRESH-WATER AND TERRESTRIAL Suretis: By

ened Hie. Wares eich snisc'ne ates ve ccicimesntes sess tenes nse 278-281
Lorp CLARENDON AND HIs Trowsriper Ancestry: By the Rev.
y, Medd, Pome, B.S.A. co.cc cans eect weet des eeteceeeenoers 282-290
8 Extracts from the Pedigree of Hyde and Lamgford........s.ss.s-ssessereseesererersensssssseenee 282
Ox THE Marertats of Roman Querns: By Professor Buckman,
MTS, WG Big EB Ald os eae lee ec eens ste cw eee ges sens 291-294
LETTER FROM THE ANTIQUARY GROSE ....---e eee eee reer ceeecees 295
Query—Famity or SHUTER OF WINTERBOURNE GUNNER .....-- 296
q DoNATIONS TO THE MUSEUM .....-4- seeveeceeececeeeeseeeccers 297
q RE sh ieee Si Giaiauia's ovale nis epa semsiagces segs otaey eases 297
q ILLUSTRATIONS.
Varieties of ancient Incised Markings on Stones in North-
umberland ...... 0. eee cere ete e eens cece eee eet ces 268
“Ancient Incised Markings on Rocks near the Crinan Moss,
Argyleshire ...... .2sse-seeeeee conser etessese cess 269
‘Incised Marking on the Impost of the Great Trilithon at
Stonehenge. From a sketch by Dr. Tate ........+-- 272

Incised Marking on the Impost of the Great Trilithon at
Stonchenge. From a rubbing by Dr. Thurnam ... .... 273

DEVIZES:
Henry Buwt, Saint Joun STREET.
LONDON:
Bett & Daxpy, 186, Fuzer Srrezt; J. R, Surru, 36, Somo SQuARE,

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THE

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE,

‘€MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS,”—Ovid.

On the Ornithology of Wilts.

No. 12.—INSESSORES (Perchers). Continued.
Fissirostres (wide-billed).

Gren rages last tribe of the great order of Perchers is by far the
| sy! smallest of the four, for though it contains as many families
as the Climbers, viz.: the Kingfishers, Swallows and Goatsuckers,
_ yet two of these are represented in this country by one single
_ species only, and the whole tribe numbers but six individuals
known in Wiltshire. There is indeed another family belonging
_ to this tribe, viz.: the Bee-eaters; but the only two species belonging
_ to it which ever appear in England, viz., the “ Roller,” (Coracias
garrula) and the ‘‘ Bee-eater,”’ (Merops apiuster) have only visited
us as very rare stragglers, and no instance of the occurrence of
either of them in Wiltshire has hitherto reached me. The word
_ “ Fissirostres,” (wide-billed or cloven-beaked,) describes at once their
_ chief characteristic, and indeed if we closely examine those spevies
in which this peculiarity is most developed, viz., the common
- Swift and the Night-jar, we shall be surprized to see to what an
g Bi scatnense width the gape extends, and how apparently dispropor-
tionate to the size of the head is the enormous extent of the
capacious mouth and throat, though these are admirably adapted
_ to their habits of feeding on the wing and capturing flies and
m moths as in a net in their rapid career through the air. Their
; ; being little required for use are generally small and weak,
. their flight is peculiarly smooth and easy, gliding as they do
. IX—NO. XXVII. Q

>
de

212 On the Ornithology of Wilts [ Halcyonide. |

with outstretched pinions, with apparently little or no effort,
and with surprizing speed, and protracting their aérial rambles, as
if they were incapable of fatigue.

HALCYONIDZ (The Kingfishers).

Members of this family are generally remarkable for the extreme
brilliancy of their plumage: they are chiefly natives of more
tropical climates, as the brilliant colours of their plumage demon-
strate, one only species and that of marvellous splendour, inhabiting
this country or indeed Europe generally: they prey upon small
fishes and insects, the former of which they procure by darting
down upon them from some elevated place as they rise to the
surface of the water, and the latter by pouncing upon them in
their flight: their feet, like others of this tribe, are small and feeble,
their beak straight and pointed, and their flight rapid.

“ Kingfisher ” (A/cedo ispida). The gorgeous colours of this
the most beautiful of all our British birds, defy description: there
is on the upper parts such a mixture of the brightest blue with
the most vivid green, and these colours blend with one another,
and are reflected with such marvellous brilliancy and with such
metallic lustre, that they must be seen to be duly appreciated; all
the under plumage is of a reddish orange. The Kingfisher is not
uncommon wherever there is a stream ; indeed for lack of a river
or brook, I have known it haunt the foul sluggish water-course of
a long line of water meadows, and even a stagnant pond in a cow
yard: but it is a shy bird, and generally avoids the habitations of
man : it is also essentially solitary in its habits, and except during
the breeding season, is always found alone: its mode of seizing the
smaller fish on which it preys is singular: it will sit for a con-
siderable time on a rail or bush overhanging the water, and watch
in patience the arrival of some victim, when with the most rapid
flight it will dart like lightning beneath the surface, and seizing
its unsuspecting prey in its bill, bring it back to the station it
before occupied, there to be devoured at leisure: at other times it
may be seen shooting like a meteor over the brook, always however
following the course of the stream, and if its quick eye catches

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 2138

sight of food, you may see it suddenly stop, hover with expanded
_ wings for a moment, and then drop like a stone into the water,
_ from which it will as quickly emerge with its quivering victim,
firmly held between the mandibles of its beak ; and this it will
_ either at once devour, or else beat to death against a stone and then
_ swallow whole. And yet with this plunging propensity, and this
fearlessness in precipitating itself into deep water from which it
Ee always emerges unscathed, it is essentially a land bird, and has no
__ affinity with the water fowl, with which Bewick and some of the
‘4 _ older naturalists classed it: neither can it seek the water ona
; rough stormy day; for the fishing mancuvres above recorded to
be successful, calm quiet weather is necessary, when the water is
neither thickened by rain, nor ruffled by wind, but as the elements
are not always so propitious to its piscatory expeditions, the King-
fisher, (like the true birds of prey,) will gorge itself voraciously at one
time, and then retire to digest its heavy meal at leisure: another
habit too it possesses in common with the rapacious birds, viz.,
. “that it reproduces in castings or small pellets, the fish bones and
“a other indigestible parts of the living creatures it has swallowed,
q and these pellets in time cover the floor of the hole in the bank in
_ which it dwells, and form the nest on which it deposits its beautiful
_ transparent white eggs. On no bird have the old heathen poets
and naturalists exercised their fancy more than on the Kingfisher,
_ and among other strange tales they used to fable that this bird
_ would sit on its floating nest for the seven days of incubation, and
_ that it had such power over the winds and waves, that though in
om he depth of winter, a perfect calm always reigned during that
_ period, when mariners might cross the sea in perfect safety: and
; hence came the well known saying “Halcyon days,” which has
_ passed into a proverb for any short season of tranquillity.

HIRUNDINIDZE (The Swallows).

_ This family certainly contains the most conspicuous of our sum-

therefore we are naturally predisposed in their favour: but not
Q 2

214 On the Ornithology of Wilts [Hirundinide].

only do we welcome them as heralds of spring and harbingers of
sunshine ; in addition to this, all their movements are so graceful,
they are so essentially birds of the air, seldom touching the earth,
but careering all day long under the bright blue sky and through
the lofty pathways of the air, that they engage our particular
admiration and interest: if we stand still to watch one of these
birds in its course, see with what arrowy speed it darts over our
gardens, sweeps round our houses or skims over the pool: now it
will wheel and sport high up in the air, hurrying here and there
on the lightest wing in the gladness of its heart ; anon it will float
without effort in the vast expanse, as much at home and at ease as
other birds when perched on a tree or motionless on the ground :
and for this aérial life how admirably their structure is adapted :
observe the shape of the body, how full the forepart, how gradually
tapering towards the tail, which is exactly the principle on which
the fastest sailing ships are constructed: then see the plumage,
how firmly compacted, how little liable to be ruffled by the breezes
in a long and rapid flight; mark the wings stretching out like
oars of vast length, and moved by muscles of extraordinary power:
note the long forked tail, supplying a never failing rudder to guide
the bird through those numerous windings in which it delights.
Other characteristics of this family, in addition to those belonging
to the whole tribe, are, very short beak, very broad at the base
and slightly bent ; head quite flat, and neck scarcely visible: their
note is rather a continued twitter than a song, though some of the
species will scream in a high and wild key, and others have a not
unpleasing though monotonous and very gentle melodious warble.
All the four species of this family with which we are acquainted
are summer visitants, leaving us in the autumn: it used to be
asserted by older naturalists, before the habits of birds had been so
closely observed, as of later years, that the Hirundines did not leave
this country in the winter, but retired to caves or holes, and there
remained dormant, like the bats and dormice: others maintained
the wilder theory that they plunged into the beds of rivers and
lakes, and there amidst the sedge and mud and reeds at the bottom,
slumbered away the dreary months of ice and snow, till the genial

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. * 215

- breezes and warmth of April ronsed them from their torpor to

“J Bexploded, and we all ora that the bulk of these birds collect in
_ enormous numbers in the autumn, migrate in vast flocks, and steer
Saisie course due south, though doubtless a few stragglers are often
Ss eft behind, perhaps physically incapable of accompanying their

oe u unusual habit of these birds to seek the vicinity of water, where
- their winged insect prey chiefly abounds, and to roost amid the

a ‘to the wondrous account of their voluntary immersion during
_ winter. As an unanswerable proof that they do not hybernate, I

is to fail: and it is astonishing athe an immense number of
flies of various kinds a single individual of this family will consume
in one day, all of which are caught with great dexterity in the air
in the midst of their rapid and buoyant flight ; and thus they rid
us of what but for their good offices would be an intolerable plague
of flies and gnats. I may well conclude my general account of
‘this family in the words of good old Gilbert White of Selborne,
“the Hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, entertaining,
social and useful tribe of birds; they touch no fruit in our gardens ;
d elight (all but one species) in attaching themselves to our houses ;
amuse us with their migrations, songs, and marvellous agility ; and
4 clear our outlets from the annoyance of gnats and other troublesome
| insects. +
“Swallow” (Hirundo rustica). There are two marks by which
species may be readily distinguished from its congeners, viz.:
long deeply-forked tail, and rufous forehead and throat; the
aage of the bird is a glossy steel blue or purple black : it is

216 On the Ornithology of Wilts | Hirundinide].

often called the ‘chimney Swallow,” and by French naturalists
“‘ Hirondelle de la cheminée,” because it frequently selects a chimney
for its nesting place, though sometimes the shaft of an old mine or
the rafter of an outhouse are deemed good substitutes: for the
same reason the Germans style it “Die Rauch Schwalbe” or
“ Smoke Swallow.” Its great power of wing enables it to visit
very distant countries: passing the colder months of winter in the
interior of Africa, as spring advances it migrates northwards and
penetrates almost to the frozen seas and shores lying near the
North Pole: in this country we may generally observe one or two
pioneers arriving in advance of the main body: and so regularly
does this occur that there is scarcely an European language which
does not contain the old Spanish proverb, “ one Swallow does not
make summer.” In fine weather it flies so high as to be barely
detected from below, and this is a well known signal that no
storms are at hand: for at such times it is in pursuit of high-soar-
ing insects which are wonderfully susceptible of atmospheric
changes, and descend to the earth when clouds begin to gather:
when therefore the Swallow flies low, we know that it has followed
its victims downwards, and that rain is at hand. But it is only in
the bright sunshine, and under cloudless skies that this joyous bird
seems to exult: then you may see it wheel through the air, or
skim over the water, and drink and bathe while on the wing, and
scatter the bright drops over its shining plumage ; and it is really
sad to think how many of these happy innocent birds fall victims
to the thoughtless persecution of youthful gunners, who fire at
them for no other object than for practice, or from wanton thought-
lessness, regardless alike of their sufferings, their harmlessness and
the benefits they confer: and one would rejoice to see them invested
here with some of the love and reverence shown towards them by
the inhabitants of Scandinavia, among whom the following pretty
legend is a familiar household tale; ‘“ when our Blessed Lord was
crucified a little bird came and perched upon the Cross, peered
sorrowfully down upon the sufferer, and twittered ‘ Hugsvala, svala
svala Honom,’ ‘console, console, console Him:’ and hence it
obtained the name of Svala (Swallow). In consequence of the

4 By the Rev. A, C. Smith. 217

g commiseration thus evinced by the Swallow towards the Redeemer,
4 Heaven ordained that blessings and prosperity should ever after-
_ wards attend on those who protected it and its nest :” ! and from
_ this tradition the honest Norsemen consider it sinful in any way
_ to injure or molest this favoured bird of Heaven. As the autumn
_ draws on and the Swallows begin to prepare for their departure,
,. they may be seen congregated on the roofs of houses in thousands, ~
_ giving utterance to their soft twittering note, and apparently
loathe to leave the house where they have reared their young: but

_ flock, steering due South, after which scarcely a straggler is to be
seen. :

_-{ Martin” (Hirundo urbica). This species is even more familiar
_ to us than the last, for it selects the eaves of our houses and the

hence the names by which it is so often designated of “ window
- Swallow,” ‘‘ Hirondelle de fenétre,” “ Haus-schwalbe.” It may be
at once distinguished from the last by the pure white of all its
under parts, and the shorter forked tail, as well as by its smaller
size and more compact shape: it has also a conspicuous patch of
white on the back, just above the tail, which stands out in marked
contrast with the dark purple hue of all its upper plumage: its
legs and feet too are feathered to the toes, in which respect it
differs from all its congeners: it hunts on the wing, wheels through
= _ the air, flocks before migration, and otherwise comports itself like
the preceding, but it does not arrive in this country till a week or
wo later, probably owing to its lesser powers of wing, and con-
sequently inferior speed. The Martin has generally two broods in
the summer, but so strong is its instinct to join in the general
_ migration when the fitting period arrives, that it often leaves its
_ young, if hatched late in the year, to perish in the nest, rather

proceeding is not confined to one or two isolated cases, but is found
be more or less practised every year, and in some seasons to a

218 On the Ornithology of Wilts | Hirundinide].

very great extent. Lloyd in his Scandinavian Adventures (vol. ii.,
p- 353) says, that in Lapland half the Martins’ nests of the preced-
ing year which he examined, contained the remains of half-grown
and abandoned young. The same author also observes, “ though in
England we set little value on this bird, such is not the case in the
more northern parts of Scandinavia, where those pests, the
mosquitoes, literally swarm; for knowing the destruction the
martin causes amongst them, the inhabitants not only protect it in
every way, but very commonly fasten great numbers of scroll-
shaped pieces of bark of the birch tree, somewhat resembling the
sparrow-pots in use with us, to the sides of their habitations, for
the bird to breed in.” Here too in this county we have an
honourable preeminence for rearing these birds; for Rennie the
editor of Montagu’s Dictionary, says, “the greatest number of
House Martins’ nests-he ever saw together was under the north
eave of Mr. Heneage’s stables, at Compton Bassett House in
Wiltshire.” There were about fifty nests in one continuous line.

“Sand Martin” (Hirundo riparia). ‘This little sober coloured
bird, dusky brown above, and dull white beneath, receives its
names of “Sand Martin” and “ Bank Swallow,” from its tendency
to make its nest in holes in the banks of rivers, on the abrupt
sand bank of a deep road cutting, or the perpendicular side of a
quarry: in short the steep face of any cliff will answer the purpose,
provided only the soil be soft and sandy enough to allow of exca-
vation to the depth of two or three feet; and in some favoured
spots, several of which exist in Wiltshire, the sand banks which
these birds frequent are completely riddled with their holes for a
considerable space. So well known for ages has this habit been,
that Pliny the elder in his great work on Natural History, applied
the term “riparia” to the Sand Martin 1800 years ago, and it has
enjoyed the appellation ever since. It arrives a few days earlier
than any of its congeners, and may be met with in its favourite
haunts about the second week in April: it differs from the Martin
in its inferior size, and browner upper plumage: the beak though
small and short, is very hard and sharp, and admirably adapted
for digging, and indeed is the only instrument employed, the

ee

Y a
‘
2 >

Fe By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 919
|

sharp claws being required for clinging to the face of the bank, or
_ hanging to the roof of the half made tunnel, while the beak per-
_ forates and loosens and excavates the sand: the gallery formed is
4 always more or less winding, sloping slightly upwards, and con-
tains a soft nest at the extremity: it skims over meadows, and
2 more commonly over lakes aud rivers, where it finds an abundant
_ supply of insect food: it also drinks and bathes as it flies, after
_ the manner of its congeners previously described, and is by far the
smallest of the Hirundines.
“Common Swift” (Cypselus apus). The scientific name of this
bird, (signifying “the hive-builder without feet ;”) is intended to
_ characterize its habits and appearance: cypselus rather obscurely
_ denoting its habit of building in holes of walls; apus referring to the
shortness of its feet: it has indeed feet so short that they may
almost be said to be wanting, and are quite unfit for: moving on
= the ground, on which it never alights, for in truth the shortness
_ of*the tarsi and the length of wing render it unable to rise from
a an even surface: its toes, four in number, are all directed forwards, 3
a: iving the foot the appearance of that of a quadruped rather than
_ of a bird; the claws are much curved, enabling it to cling to the
perpendicular face of a wall, rock or tower, which form its prin-
* cipal resting places; thus the feet, useless for locomotion, where
; they are not needed, are perfect for grasping, for whieh they are
_ required: the wings are extremely long and powerful, giving the
ird astonishing swiftness and endurance of flight, so that for
xteen consecutive hours, from the early dawn to twilight ofa
long summer’s day, these indefatigable birds will career at an
mmense height above the earth, and there at such vast elevations

our heads, but what is more astonishing, an abundance of a species
) pot minute spider, with which those saci regions appear to be

h the thinnest webs glistening with moisture: these are the
bs of the gossamer spider, which rendered heavier by the dew

220 On the Ornithology of Wilts [ Caprimulgide).

whole acres. But notwithstanding the vast powers of flight of the
Swift, prolonged through the entire day, surpassing that of all our
other birds, and with which the speed of the express train is not
to be compared for a moment, it is one of the latest of our summer
visitants to arrive, and one of the earliest to depart : it seems to
delight most in heavy close thunder weather, when it darts to and
fro, screeching forth its unearthly note, and is thought an uncanny
bird by many a housewife even in this county and in these days:
here it loves to frequent our downs in fine weather, where it may
be met with in considerable numbers ; and in the evenings, uttering
its loud and harsh scream, it wheels round and round the tops of
old towers and steeples, before retiring to roost in their crevices
and holes. Its colour with the exception of a dusky white chin, is
smoke black: its head is peculiarly flat as well as broad, and the
neck very short: it is singular that in rough and windy weather
it will not sally forth on its aérial rambles, but contents itself in
the dark in its retreat in some tower or wall: thus (as Bewick
remarks) “the life of the Swift seems to be divided into two
extremes; the one, of the most violent exertion, the other of
perfect inaction: they must either shoot through the. air, or
remain close in their holes.” Their provincial name in Wiltshire
is “ the Screech.”

CAPRIMULGID (The Goutsuckers).

There is no family of birds so illused by nomenclature as this :
not only have they received a false character, and an imputation
of crimes of which they were never guilty, but now that their
innocence has been long since clearly proved and universally
allowed, still they continue to be designated by the same oppro-
brious title; and what an absurd idea it was, even for our marvel
loving old Naturalists, to accuse these harmless insect-eating birds,
of feeding on goats’ milk, to obtain which however they are sin-
gularly ill-adapted. Their general characteristics are, very large
head with enormous width of gape; large clear and full eyes, as
befit those who hunt entirely in the dark; short neck, and very
small body ; plumage extremely soft and full; wings and tail very

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 221

ee
i A
ed
ret

i : long ; the base of the bill fringed with large bristles, which they
can move at pleasure and are of great assistance in securing their
prey; their feet are very small and weak, and as they are not
: formed for grasping, when these birds rest on a branch, they
4 ‘seldom perch transversely but lengthwise: but their most remark-
able peculiarity is the serrated or pectinated claw of the middle
toe, the comb consisting of about seven or eight teeth, supposed to
be useful in removing the legs of beetles and moths from the
bristles which surround the beak, as I have more fully detailed in
_ my paper on the feet of birds:! the hind toe is reversible, and can
be brought round to the front, so as to make all four toes turn the
same way. The food of the Caprimulgide consists entirely of
insects, chiefly those which fly by night, and which they then
seize in their capacious mouth as they hurry along; indeed as this
family has the closest affinity with the Hirundinide, they may well
- be termed “ Night Swallows,” for like them they visit us period-
_ ically from Africa in the summer, are insect eaters, have great
powers of flight, feed on the wing, and resemble them in many
particulars of their formation and habits. It is to this family that
_ the American “ Whip-poor- Will” so dreaded by the superstitious
_ Indians, as the ghost of one of their ancestors, belongs.

“Nightjar” (Caprimulgus Europeus). This is by far the most
appropriate of the many names which this much belied bird has yet
received, and it expresses one of its most remarkable habits, for
rien perched on a tree with its face towards the trunk, = ats tail

- spinning wheel, while its head is bent down lower than the tail, and
‘a feather “phen as it niece its purring note. It is also known

‘ead, for spi ‘the fact that it is crepuscular, and therefore has

j ft downy plumage, and is seldom seen abroad before” the witching

; sour of twilight,” it has no more affinity with the owl family than
‘ 1 Magazine, vol, ii., p. 298.

222 On the Ornithology of Wilts | Caprimulgide].

the bats have. Its body is small for its size,-that is to say, much °
smaller than its general appearance would lead one to imagine, for
it is clothed with such a quantity of soft light downy plumage, that
it passes for a larger bird than it really is. The marking of its
feathers is peculiarly fine and delicate: the prevailing colours are
shades of brown, buff and grey, barred and spotted with every
variety : its immense width of gape at once distinguishes it from
all other birds, and its full dark eye and pectinated claw are very
striking features. It is essentially a solitary bird, seldom to be
seen even in the company of its mate, which however may ocvasion-
ally be found perched on another treeatashort distance. Deep
woods and shaded valleys, as well as fern-clad heaths and commons
are its favourite haunts, wherein it can retire from the glare of day-
light, and emerge at twilight on noiseless and rapid wing when
the moths and beetles and other night flying insects on which it
preys are abroad: its flight is generally low; for its victims are to be
found near the ground, and it sweeps with great ease and power
round the bushes and in and out among the trees. Amongst all
our summer vistitants, (and their name is legion,) the Nightjar stands
alone as the only nocturnal bird of the whole assembly, and as it
checks the increase of night flying insects, as the swallows diminish
the number of those which appear by day, it is not only harmless,
but actively useful toman. It lays two eggs on the bare ground,
and to it may be attributed all the plausible but erroneous tales of
the Cuckoo (for which bird it has often been mistaken), rearing her
own young. It is to be met with sparingly throughout the County,
wherever deep woods furnish it with shade and retirement.

This concludes the tribe of ‘ wide-billed” (jfissirostres) and with
it the Order of ‘‘ Perchers” (insessores) containing twenty families
and no less than eighty-seven species; all occuring more or less
frequently in Wiltshire, and each of which we have now examined. »
In taking leave of this large Order, we may remark how gradually
we have been conducted from the strong stout limbs of the more
typical Perchers, through the Creepers, Wrens and Cuckoos, whose
habits require no great powers of perching and grasping, down to
the Swallows, the almost footless Swift, and the Nightjar with very

Wiltshire Arms and Descents. 223

7 Ditisinative and disproportionate feet and legs; exemplifying once
more, what I have several times called attention to, the easy gentle
Ee transition from one Order and Family to another, after the manner
pin which Nature loves to harmonize her works: so that now we
_ are prepared to pass from the Perchers to the Ground birds (Rasores)
; whose life is passed more on the ground than amongst the branches,
and who therefore need a very different formation of feet from those
_ we have lately been considering.
Be AurreD Cuartes SMITH.

Wiltshire Arms and Aescents.

By Mr. Crarence Hopper.

{ SG OBERT DALE, the writer of the subjoined notes (which
g AN were compiled about the year 1693), was for many years an

h m in the visitations. He was the son of Mr. Thomas Dale of
Crosshil] Hall, in the parish of Great Smeton, county York, and
“was ereated Richmond Herald, May 8rd, 1721; but he only survived
the appointment about eleven months, dying on the 4th of April,
1722, and was buried in the church of St. Benet, Paul’s Wharf.
Noble (vide his History of the College of Arms) supposes him to
e been an herald painter.

he books from which Dale deduced the following memoranda
in the Herald’s College, and he has principally taken them from
Visitations of 1620. His reputation as a diligent and accurate
lector is undeniable, and their value in a genealogical point of
‘cannot be questioned. References such as these, enable us to
e the migration of the cadet branches of old-seated families and
subsequent establishment in another county away from the
mt stock. They must ever be hailed as a welcome addition to
county history, and as tending to develope what is an essential
.in all such information—authentic data whereon to base the
oundwork in constructing genealogy.

. CiaRENCE Hopper.

224

CUMBERLAND.
DorseEt., 12.

145.

Lincorn., 79.

(New) Berxs., 47.

BucKInGHaM., 3.

207.
CHESHIRE, 35,

51,

DERBYSHIRE, 3.
47.

DorsEtsHieeE, 9.

27.

EssEx, 26.

98.

GLoUcESTER., 111,

(Thin Book), 10.

HEREFORD., 91,

Wiltshire Arms and Descents.

Aprice of Falston.

Ashley of Ashley.—Az. a cinquefoil within a bordure
engrailed ermine. Ona wreath a harpy, arg. ; crined,
membred and hooded, or.

Ashley of Damerham, a second branch from St, Giles
Winborn, in Dorsetshire, descended from these of
Ashley.

Aubrey of Chadenwick, (see Hertfordshire) thin Glouces-
tershire 9.—Ermine, 3 bendlets, gu. of Chardenwick.

Aubrey of Bradford, a third house from these.

Ayscough (William), Bishop of Sarum, a second house
from Potgrange, co. Ebor.

Baron of Meeire [Meere].

Berenger, or Benneger of Manningford and Marlborough,
descended from Pewsey, co. Southampton. Kent 117,
those of Marlborough a second house from Man-
ningford.

Browne of Winterbourne Basset.

Barneston prebendary of Salisbury, a second son from
Churton in Cheshire.

Bird of Bradford, a younger branch from Clopton and
Plafield in Cheshire.

Browne of

Blythe, John, Bishop of Salisbury, descended from
Norton, co. Derby.

Barrett of Whiteparish.—Arg.
between 3 martlets, sab.

Bingham, (Robert) Bishop of Sarum, a second branch
from Sutton’s Bingham, co. Somerset.

Blague, alias Blaake, now Blake of Quemberford [Quem-
erford ] Calne and Pynhills.—1st,arg.a chevron between
3 garbs, sab.—2nd, arg. on a pile, az. 3 martlets, sil.
both by this name. Crest on a chapeau, gu. turned up
erm. a martlet, arg. Kent 83,

Blague of Lacock, a second branch from Quemberford.
Kent 83.

Blague of Hilcot, a third house from Calne. Kent 83.

Blount of Wotton, descended from Maugersfield, co.
Gloucester.

Beckingham of Bulford and Salisbury.—Arg, a fess
embattelled, counter embattelled; between 3 escallop
shells, sab.

Besil of Bradford, (see Berks.)—3 roundles. Kent 127.

Baynard of Lackham.—Or, a fess between 2 chevrons,
sab. Crest on a wreath, a demi unicorn rampant, or;
Mantled, or, and sab. rs

Baskervile of Warneborough, a younger branch from
Erdisley Castle, co, Hereford. Hertford. (sic) 72.

a leopard’s face gu.

- Heerrorp., 125.

209.
‘Lancasuree, 124.
> “Lonpoy, 110.

| GLovcESTER., 168.

| Onesuree, 153.

_ (Thick) Kenz, 142.

By Mr. Clarence Hopper. 225

Baskervile of Richardstone, a second house from these.

Bullen, Thomas, Earl of Wiltshire,

Bunce of Malmsbury.—Az. on a fess between 3 boars
passant, arg, as many eagles displayed of the
field. Crest on a wreath a demi bear rampant,
or; struck in at the shoulder and out at the back with
a broken spear, gu.

Bowyer of [? Lavington. ]

Boulton of [? Button of Alton Priors. ]

Becket of Wilton and of Littleton [Pannel, Bishop’s
Lavington. ] -

Calton [? Calston] of Littlecot.

Cheney of Uphaven, a second house from West Woodhey,
co. Berks, originally from Kent.

Clifford of Boscomb.—Cheequy or and az. a fess gu.
ap annulet, a canton [?] Crest out of a ducal coronet,
a dragon’s head, wings elevated.

Cecill of

Croke of

Chawey [Chaucey] of Charlton [near Pewsey. ]

Chadwell of Burbidge and of Ellesborne Wake; (query
if not Dorset.) Alibi Eblesborne Wake, in Wilts 123.

Cornwall of Marlborough.—Ermine a lion rampant, gu.
crowned or, within a bordure engrailed, sab. bezanté.

Darell of Littlecot.—Az. a lion rampant or, crowned arg.
with a cross crosslet fiteché on the shoulder.

Darell of Hungerford, a younger house from these.

Daniel of St. Margaret’s, near Marlborough, and of
Bynag [Benacre, near Melksham] a younger branch
from Great Budworth in Cheshire.

Davenport of Lavington, a second branch from Bremhall,
Cheshire.

Dyer of Malmsbury.—Sab. 3 goats trippant, arg.; an
annulet diff.

Dauntesey of Dauntesey.—Per pale .... [or and arg.]
barry nebulé ....

Englefield of Wotton Basset, and of Englefield co. Berks,
which see.

Eyre of Downton, a younger branch from Holme co.
Derby.

Edmonds of New Sarum.—Or a chevron, az. on a canton,
sab. a boar’s head coupé gold.

Ellis of Bapton. .

Ernley of Cannings [Bishop’s Cannings], or All Can-
nings, descended from Ernley in Sussex.

226

203.

GLOUCESTER., 169,

LEICESTERSHIRE, 76.

BERKSHIRE, 63.
GLOUCESTER., 146.

(Thick) Kent., 130.

BERKSHIRE, 8,

10.

60.
Dorset., 70.
124,

iby fi

(Latter) Essex, 139.

233.

HERTFORD,, 4.
Lonpon, 63,

BERKSHIRE, 47.
(New) Brrxs., 18.

31.

CHESHIRE, 277.
DorseEtTsHIRE, 8,

9.

Wiltshire Arms and Descents.

Ernley of Sutton Benger, a second branch from All
Cannings.

Eyre of [? Chalfield].—Arg. on a chevron, sab.
3 quatrefoils silver.

Estcourt of the city of Salisbury, a second branch from
Eastcourt in Gloucestershire.

Elkington of Malmesbury, a second line from Shawel
co. Gloucester.

Fisher of Leddington Wick [Liddington].

Ferrers [? Ferrys] of Blunsden and Corsham.—Arg. on a
bend, gu. cotized az. 3 horse shoes, or. Crest on a
wreath, an ostrich proper, with a horse shoe in the
beak, or.

Fotherby (Martin), Bishop of Salisbury, a second branch
from Grimsby co. Lincoln.

Goddard of Upham.—2 coats. 1st, the modern; gu. a
chevron vairé, between 3 crescents, arg. on each an
ermine spot, sab. 2nd, az. 5 lozenges (or fusils) in
fess, between 3 falcons’ heads erased, or.

Gunter of Mylton, idem with Gunter of Englewood and
Inkpen co. Berks.

Gunter of Hobgrave [? Hopgrass], a fourth brother from
Milton originally of Berks.

Gunter of Apford [? Atford], a second line from these of
Milton antea.

Grove of Dunhead and Ferne, descended from Bucking-
hamshire.

Grove of Dennet [? Donhead].

Gardener of Finhead [? Tinhead, parish of Edington], a
second branch from London and Bucks.

Gardener of Salisbury, a second house from these.

Gough of All Cannings.

Gilbert of Everley.

Gray of Wilton, descended from Devonshire.

Hinton of Estcote [Hunton of East Knoyle], idem with
Hinton of Stansfield co. Berks.

Hayne of Awborne.—Arg. a chevron between 3 martlets,
sab.

Hungerford of Cadenham.—Barry of 6, sab. and arg. in
chief, 3 plates. Crest, out of a ducal coronet, a garb
between 2 sickles.

Hide of Salisbury, a younger house from Norbury.

Hussey of Ellesborough, a second house from Shapwick
co. Dorset.

Hussey of Edmondesham, a second line from these of
Ellesborow.

*
4

193,

GLovucusteER., 65.

133.

194,

191,

_ (Latter) Essex, 220.

» IX.—NO. XXVIL. : R

By Mr. Clarence Hopper. 227

Hawles of New Sarum, descended from the Isle of
Wight, (vide Hampshire).

Hooper of New Sarum (Dorset 202). Or on a fess
between 8 boars passant, az. as many annulets gold.

Horsey of Burport [Dorset, of Martin co. Wilts], a
younger branch from ... ....

Haddock of Bureton, query if not Hampshire.

Hawkesworth of Milsham [Melksham or Milston P] des-
cended from Thornborough in Gloucestershire.

Horton of Ivard [Iford] and Browton Giffard. Arg. on
a fess, az. between 2 wolves passant in chief, and a
cross-bow in base, gu. 3 martlets, or. Crest ona
wreath, a dexter arm erected, habited gu. the cuff
turned up, arg., hand proper holding an arrow (point
downward), or.

Hungerford of Hetsbury [Heytesbury] and Farley Castle,
thin book 16.—Sab. two bars, arg. in chief 3 plates.
Crest out a ducal coronet, a garb gold, between 2
sickles, arg. the handles, or, motto et Dieu mon appuy.

Heytsbury of Heytsbury.—Per pale indented, gu. and
vert a chevron, or, thin book 16.

Hungerford of Cadnam, a second line from Down Amney
co. Gloucester.

Justice of Reading.—Or a fess engrailed cotized, sab.
Berks.

Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, descended from Bowden co.
Devon., ob. 1571.

Kirton of Woton or Wooton, a younger brother from

Arg. a fess, and in chief a chevron, gu.
London 116, vide Middlesex.

Kemble of Ugborne and Stratton.—Sab. on a bend er-
mine, 3 leopards’ faces of the field. Crest on a wreath,
a woltf’s head trunked or, bendwise, the lower chap
bloody proper.

Knevyet of Charlton [near Malmsbury ].

Knowle of Sarum.—Query if not arg. on a chief, gu.
3 plates the middlemost charged with a fleur de lys, az.

Long of [Trowbridge ?]—Crusulé a lion rampant
within a bordure ermine. Crest on a wreath a lion’s
head, coupé ermine, with a dexter hand, coupé at the
wrist, in his mouth, gu.

Long of [Wraxalland Draycott ?] Crusulé ..
and a lion rampant.

Lawrence of Tisbery and Sarum, see Dorsetshire et query
Lancashire.

Lee of the Isle of Wight (verius Leigh ).—Arg. ona chief
crenellé, sab, 3 plates,

228
203.
BERKSHIRE, 36.

90,

(New) Berxs., 19.

BucKINGHAM., 117.

CHESHIRE, 458.
DorsEtsHIRE, 124,

200.

GLOUCESTER, 133.

Lonpon, 4.

BERKSHIRE, 5,
106.
(New) Berxs., 16.

CUMBERLAND, 2.

BERKSHIRE 168.
100.

Buckinewam., 55,

Wiltshire Arms and Descents.

Lambert of Boynton[Boyton], arg.on a bend engrailed
between two lions rampant, sab. 3 annulets or.

Martin of Burthorp [Burderop], a fourth house from
Oakingham co. Berks.

Moody of Hurst in Wilts, near Oakingham co, Berks.
descended immediately from London, but originally of
Aldersfield in Worcestershire.

Munday of Bridesden [ Biddesden].—Sab. on a cross en-
grailed, 5 lozenges of the field. Crest on a wreath a
leopard’s head erased sab. bezanté, breathing fire
proper.

Mathew of Arg. on a chevron, gu. 3 quatrefoils,
silver. Crest on a wreath, a demi-pegasus (or flying
horse) ermine, his hoofs, sab.

Mervyn of {Fonthill and Pertwood].

Mayow of Dinton.

Mayow of Fonthill, a second house from Dinton.

Moor of Colston, a younger house from Southampton
(forsan a third) London 152.

May of Elston [Parish of Orcheston St. George].

Newbrough.—Or 3 bends, az. within a bordure engrailed,

gu.

Newbrough, the same but without engrailing.

Narbone of Coln [Calne].—Ermine a fess nebulé gu. on
a canton. gu. ducal coronet, or.

Newborough or Nerborough, as the first Newbrough.

Nicholas.—Az. a chevron engrailed between 3 owls, or.

Norborne of Bremhill, the same with Narborne.

Nutcombe.—A fess embattelled, or between # escallops,gu.

Oliph of [Alyffe of Grittenham], descended from
London and Foxgrave in Kent.

Pleydell of Cricklade, a second brother from Shrivenham
co. Berks.

Pulley of Redborne [Rodborne}.

Pile of Chilton.—Arg. a cross between 4 piles [Passion
Nails], gu. Crest out of a ducal coronet, a demi
pelican issuant,

Penruddock of Hale [and Compton Chamberlyn], a
third house from Arkeldby co. Cumberland.

Reynalds of Trowbridge.—Az. on a fess or, 5 cross cross-
lets fitché, gu.

Richmond alias Webb of Redborn [Rodbourn] Cheyney
and Wroughton.

Richmond alias Webb of Draycot Foliot.—Arg. a eross

_ GLovcesTER., 112.

_ Henerorp., 44.
_ Lancasurre, 81.
eer

84,

_ Buprorpsuree, 88.
151,
79.
| Berxsuree, 105.

_ Bucxrnenam., 198,

_ Deyowsuree, 168,

Dorsersurey, 58.

161.

By Mr. Clarence Hopper. 229

patonce, az. between 4 mullets of 6 points pierced, gu.

Rogers of Bradford.—Arg. a chevron between 3 Roe
bucks courant, sab. attired, or. Kent 127. Crest on
a wreath, a Roebuck, sab. bezanté, gorged with a ducal
coronet and attired, or.

Rous of: [Imber].—gu. 3 lions rampant, arg.

Redish of Bradesley [Bradley], a second branch from
Redish in Lancashire.

Redish of Maiden Bradley, another second line from
Redish, sed query if these are not both one.

Riley of Salisbury, a third branch from the Green in
Lancashire.

St. John of Lidyard Tregoz, a second house from Bletso
co, Bedford.

Sadler of Everley near Hungerford, a third house from
Standen co. Hertford, vid. ibid 4, et latter Vis. 27.
Smalbone of Wanborow, and of Steventon co. Berks. ;

which see.

Sottewell of Chute.—Gu. a chevron between 2 mullets
of 5 points in chief, and a lion rampant in base, or.

Standon of Stancleer, in paroch de Chute.

Scudamore of Upton.

Servington of Langford.—Ermine on a chief, az. 3
bucks heads caboshed, or. Crest on a wreath, a pine
tree eradicated proper, fructed or, growing through a
tun, gold.

Sternhold of Hurst.

Sutton of New Sarum.

Sturmy of Wolfall [Wolfhall].

Scott of Warminster.

Stump of Laycock.

Stokes of [Tytherton] Lucas, Slawtonford [Slaughterford ]
and Stanshaw.—Gu. a lion rampant, queué fourché
ermine. 53

Spert of Kingswood, descended from Stebbonheath vyulgo
Stepney co, Middlesex.

Salkeld, alias Seacole of Kingswood.—Vert. a lion
rampant arg.

Snell of Kingston [St. Michael].—Forsan quarterly,
gu. and az. a cross fleuretté, or. Crest on a wreath,
a demi-talbot rampant, gu. collared and thereunto a
line affixed, reflexed over the back and tied in ahank,or.

F ; (Thin Book,) 12. Shuter of Winterborne Cherbury.—Az. an inescotcheon,

arg. within 8 cross crosslets fitché in orle. Crest ona
wreath and mount yert., a leopard sejant proper,
gorged with a ducal coronet, and thereunto a chain
affixed, reflexed over the back, or.

R2

230

HEREFORD., 3.

Li.
59,
Herrrord, 13.

Hunrinepon., 6.

(Thick) Kenr, 133.

Lonpon, 168.

BERKSHIRE, 27.

CHESHIRE, 458.

DoRSETSHIRE, 12.
59.

Essex, (latter Vis.209)

GLOUCESTER., 58.

160.

Kenr, 11,

Berxs., 26 and 127,

Wiltshire Arms and Descents.

Scroope of Castle Combe, a second branch from Lord
Scroope of Bolton, but gives sab. 2 bendlets, arg. with
the arms of Lord Scroope in a canton, viz., az.a bend,
or. Creston a wreath out of fire proper, a salamander’ 8
head issuant, or, between 2 wings, az.

Stourton of Bere ine tans —Lord Stourton’s coat with
a mullet, difference.

Stradling of Dauntesey, a second branch from Hawey
[? Stowey] co. Somerset.

Stump of Malmsbury, latter Vis. 85.

Scudamore of Upton.—Gu. 3 stirrops leathered, az.
See Herefordshire, but fol. 78, stirrops, or leathered,
arg.

Smyth of Corsham.—Az. a chevron engrailed between
3 lions passant guardant, or. Crest on a wreath a
leopard’s head erased, arg. pelletté collared, az, stud-
ded and chained, or.

Smyth of Corclam, a third branch from Ostenhanger in
Kent, originally of Corclam.

Starling of Alderholt.—Az. a cross paté floretté between
4 estoilles, or.

Tooker of Madington.—Vert. on a bend engrailed, arg.
3 hearts, gu. Crest (New Berks 9), on a wreath, a
heart, arg. thro. a ducal coronet, gu. alibi on a wreath,
a heart, gu. crowned, or.

Touchet, Edward, Bishop of Salisbury, a third brother
from the Lord Audley.

Talbot of Trowbridge,—Az. 3 talbots passant, arg.

Tyderley of Hextleton [Hackleston, now Haxton], and
Knoyle, descended from Tiderley co. Dorset.

Thistlethwayt of Winterslow (descended from the North),

.—Or on a bend, az. 3 pheons’ heads of the field.
Crest ou a wreath, a demi lion, az. supporting a pheon’s
head, or, alibi out of a ducal coronet, an eagle dis-
played, arg. membred, gu.

Tailor of Fromhall [Bremhill], a younger branch from

Nimyrsfield [Mangotsfield] co. Gloucester.

Thinne of Longleat.—ist, barry of 10, or and sab.
2nd, arg. a lion rampant (the tail nowed), gu. within a
bordure goboné quarterly. Crest on a wreath, a rain-
deer, gorged with a collar goboné.

Thynne of Bylston [Biddeston], a third branch from

Longleat. ‘
Tregoz of Lyddyard Tregoze (or South Lydyard).—Az.
- 2 bars gemells, and a lion passant gardant in chief, or.

Weare alias Browne of Marlborough.—Per cheyron, or

_—

i ht el aie a ee

{New) Berks, 25.

186.
a GxouczstER., 23.

Berxsuree, 8.
_ DEVONSHIRE, 29.

Grovcrsrze., 191.

5 a

i

ES ‘HEREFORD., 18 & 61.

By Mr. Clarence Hopper. 231
and sab. 3 hinds trippant, counterchanged. Crest on
a wreath, a falcon, wings elevated, standing upon a
lure, gu. feathered proper, garnished arg.

Wear, alias Browne of Poulton, a second brother from
these, also of Denford 137.

Warnford of Stepenhampton [Sevenhampton],—Per
fesse crenellé, arg. and sab. 6 crosses forme, counter-
changed.

Wood of Lollard Riall [Tollard Royal], descended from
Lamley co. Nottingham.

Webb of New Sarum.—Gu. a cross between 4 falcons
(close), or. Crest out of a ducal coronet, a demi eagle
displayed (wings pointing downwards), issuant, or.

Walrond of [Albourn].—Arg. 3 bars, az. over all
an eagle displayed with 2 heads, gu.

Walrond of Alborne.—Or 3 bars, az., &e.

Vi 1623.

Yate of Upham, a second house from Charney co. Berks.

Yerworth of Collingborn Kingston, descended from
Pennarsh Clawith co. Monmouth.—Arg. 3 bucks
heads couped, sab. collared, silver. Crest on a wreath
a naked arm erected, holding a snake enwrapped
about it.

York of [Bassetts Down].

York of Ramesbury [?].

- The terms “Thick,” “Thin,” “New,” &c., designate the particular books
in the College of Arms, from which Robert Dale collected his information. The
_ above Paper has been carefully and exactly printed from his MS.; any addition,
~ made as correction, or helping to point out the location of the Families referred
o, has been enclosed in a bracket.—[Ed.]

232

¥

ON SOME

Aroma Aremains found at Vatton, Wilts,

By J. Buckman, F.L.S., F.G.8s, F.S.A., &e.,

Professor of Geology ard Botany.

GHE village of Latton lies about six miles south of Ciren-
if cester, the wayfarer passing through it in a journey from
Cirencester to the border town of Cricklade in Wiltshire, to which
county Latton itself belongs.

The church is situated on the east side of the Irmin Street,
(the Roman road from Cirencester to Bath), and about 120 yards ~
from the road, which running through Cricklade passes over two
water-courses, and for a considerable distance is accompanied on
either side by other conduits, one of which falls into the Thames,
the other into the Isis. The church itself is an object of great
interest, especially in its semicircular nave arches which, I take it,
are not as supposed of Norman, but of Decorated date.

About the village are evidences of former occupation, in rough
ground which would I think well repay investigation.

The fine state of preservation of the objects now to be described can
scarcely fail to excite interest, while their date, and the situation
in which they were found, may well lead to a little speculation.
I take advantage of the opportunity afforded me by the Earl of St.
Germans, through his Agent, Mr. Bravender, to lay some of the
facts connected with this discovery before the members of the
Wiltshire Archeological and Natural History Society.

On looking at the map it will be seen that Latton and Cricklade
are traversed in every direction by water-courses. These
traversing the flat lands of the Oxford clay, while they would favour
irrigation and flooding, would however render much of the meadow _

i . | By J. Buckman, Esq. 2383

§

on the banks of the streams so marshy as greatly to injure its value.
; It was therefore deemed expedient to make a straight water-course,
__ by which means the waters from Latton would fall into the Thames
. lower down in its course, and so render a drainage of the low-lying
__ meadows practicable. It was in the construction of this new
_ water-course that the coins and other Roman objects were met
4 with, and they were found exactly at the point where the new
conduit starts from the angle of the older one.

These remains consist of 52 coins, 34 of which were tabulated
_ by Mr. Frederick Bravender, and 18 are more or less illegible.
_ The other articles were a portion of a twisted armilla and a fine
fibula, a cutting instrument of iron, a spear head likewise of iron,
and a horse’s bit of the same material.

These objects were found in such a wonderful state of preservation,
_ some of the coins being as bright and sharp as when first struck,
3 and the iron (steel ?) objects being absolutely capable of sharpening
: or polishing, that they cannot fail to attract attention.

_ This state of preservation is due to the manner in which
. i. had been deposited. As described to me, the soil for some
- distance consisted of a hard rubbly concrete, and it was in this
concreted matter that the objects were found. This, it would
seem though forming the banks of the stream, was perfectly

| preserve the coins and implements in as good a condition as
when first placed there.

- The peculiar brightness of some of the coins of Domitian,
Tr ajan and Hadrian, almost equalling in this respect the fine
gold coins of Valens and Valentinianus, which I have found at
Corinium, convinced me that they must at least have been made
fia ppv similar in quality to the Mosaic oe with which

x is in early periods, as well as in ie latter part of Roman

234 On some Roman Remains found at Latton, Wilts.

and this not as a matter of newness or of high preservation,
but of original composition, for we had examples of both worn
almost to smoothness, one of each of which I put by for chemical
analysis. ‘

To this end then I took a brass coin and a bronze one to
Dr. Voelcker’s laboratory, where their analysis was kindly under-
taken by Mr. R. Warington, Jun., his assistant. These coins
were both so worn as to be quite illegible, still the yellow one
was as bright as polished brass of the finest quality ; the darker
one was covered externally by a blackish oxide, internally it
was copper-celoured.

The composition of the bright coin was found to be as follows :—

Copper ctimecr ares celsists.s/s'ia(eele’on ore 80.83
ATIC LR abioveww ar ees eoe ais ee Rietsis ia ehage eitete 19.32
SU ATV ee caste eictate Ss esdie ia teals ic cen oe 19
ATONE ener tists ic hivisksc oe eicotscotsvahice ears .26
SILVSE Ee rhein ne she le thee Sarals ates a trace
100.60*

Of the copper coin Mr. Warington reports as follows :—

“T have not been able to detect zinc, if any be present it
must be as a mere trace. This coin is by no means so pure as
the one previously examined, as it contains an appreciable
quantity of tin and lead, these metals amounting to several per cent.
The appearance of a freshly cut surfaee is somewhat dull and
redish.”’

These analyses show that these two kinds of coins are very
distinct in composition, the bright one being absolutely brass,
and the darker one a mixture, not of zinc and copper, but of —
tin, lead and copper; in fact an inferior bronze.

Now brass of this purity must be the result not of accident, i.e,
of accidental admixture of zinc from impure materials—but ofa
knowledge of how to put certain materials together to produce
this brighter metal. It is not the usual mixture for bronze

* The excess here should probably be deducted from the zinc, as it doubtless arises from the alkali
used in its precipitation.—J. B.

By J. Buckman, Esq. 235

~ copper are all but absent.

In Ure’s Dictionary, 1860, article “ Alloys,” p. 93, we have the
following :—

“Tt is not a little curious to find that some of the coins of high
antiquity contain zinc, which does not appear to have been known

_ as a metal before 1280, when Albertus Magnus speaks of zinc as
_ @ semi-metal.”.......... “The probability is that calamine
_ (zine ore) was known from the earliest times as a peculiar earth, al-
though it was not thought to be an ore of zinc or of any other metal.”
_ Seeing then that the results as exhibited in the coins and the
fibula are so good, it may be worth while at this day to con-
sider whether we could get a better brass from the mixture of
the earth calamine with copper directly, without first freeing the
metalic zinc from the calamine.

But the question will arise in some minds as to whether the
- Romans were altogether unacquainted with metallic zinc. One
would imagine that brass of the character of that presented by
these coins could hardly have been arrived at by accident, nor
would the results be so certain even with known quantities of
calamine.

q Again, what influence might this power of getting so bright
and gold-like a metal from an earth, (as performed by the
fomans in our own country), have had in favouring the pursuits
of alchemy, and the transmutation of metals.

ons of image and superscription; and I have dwelt upon them
the light in which they have been presented to me, in the
of drawing attention to so interesting a subject.

mongst the iron materials, I would mention the bit as an
ence that the antiquary must not reject articles as not being
aic, from their likeness to those of our own time, nor from
fact that the tooth of time has failed to make much im-
sion upon their structure. The bit and the spear-head are
vellously like some of a much later date, but they were

236 List of Coins found at Latton.

preserved by being secured in the same mass of concrete as the
coins, and this very method of preservation is in itself a matter
of interest.

As regards the history of the past, as connected with the
locality in which the articles were found, it could hardly be
that specimens of this kind could be discovered without leading
one to look more particularly at the surrounding neighbourhood,
and such examination convinced me that the streams were at
least in part artificial, and perhaps none of them observe a quite
natural or unaltered course. These Roman remains then led me to
the inference, that part if not all of the space so bounded was the site
of a Roman camp, to make which drier than it could otherwise be,
I suspect that the Romans diverted the Churn into the Thames at
a lower part of the river than before, and that since that time these
streams have undergone great changes from the wearing away of
the banks here and there by mills, and perhaps to a greater
extent from the requirements for irrigation and drainage.

Probably the land is the site of a camp, and the mill, (like the
mills on the ditch at Corinium) was built by taking advantage of
this circumstance to facilitate the establishment of the works. If
this be so, it will follow that a district hitherto looked upon as not
likely to afford riches of this sort from its general flatness, may
after all give good results from a more careful examination.

Norr.—I beg to thank Mr. Bravender for his attention to me in these matters,
and Mr. Warington for the aid afforded by his analyses.

Wis ae
List or Corns rounp aT Latron.
1 Agrippa, MAGRIPPAL .. . cos. ev. standard bearer. sc,
2 Ditto AGRIPPAL oP cos. RA. illegible. sc.
3 Antonia, illegible. 2. a female figure, illegible, sc.
4 Ditto ANTONIA auc. A. ditto, illegible. sc.
5 Antoninus Pius, ;
6 Claudius, —— R. male figure, sc.
7 Ditto TICLAUDIUS CAESAR... AR. warrior with shield. so.
8 Ditto —— DIYS CAESAR AvyG. —— &. the same.
9 Crispina, CRISPINA AVG. illegible. ZR. a sitting female figure.
10 Carausius, IMPCCARAVSIVS PI AyG. RR, PAX Ave, with olive

branch. sc,

List of Coins found at Latton. 237

x il Commodus,_ commMopaNT ... R. illegible, female figure cornucopia

fd sc.
12 Domitian, IMPCAES DOMITAVGGERM COS XIII CENS PERPP. J. I0VI

victor, victory seated, a fine head. (Marked a me-
dallion, but it is a 1st brass.) sc.
Ditto DOMITAVG GERM COS XII CENS. RR. FORTVNA AYGYSTI,

female with cornucopia &e. sc.
_ Ditto CAPSARAVG FDOMITIAN. male figure. sc.
' Ditto DOMIT AVG GERM. AR. FIDEI. male figure. sc.
Ditto IMPCAESA DOMITIANAVGGERM Cos xI. ZR. FIDET. female

figure standing. sc.

° a - te theelder, Favst AVG ........ RR. AETER. female figure
Fn sacrificing. sc.
18 Ditto the younger, ravst. 2, AETER.

19 Ditto DIVA FAvsTINA. RR. avevsTa, female figure with dis-
: taff? sc.
ADRIANVYS.—— A. cos. sc.
illegible, R. female figure.
illegible ?

IMPCAESAR HADRIANYS. A. female figure, illegible. se.

IMP NERO CAESAR AyG. PMAX TR PorPp. A, victory
with shield. sc.

IMP NERO CAESAR AVG PMAX TR PPP, RR. Spar.
SECVRITAS sitting figure sacrificing.

IMP NERO CAESAR AYG PMAX TR PPP. R. VICTORIA
AvevstI. Winged victory. sc.

Imp NERO ditto ditto ditto R. victory with shield. sc.

...» VACAESAVG PM TRP COS IP... RR. PYBLICA.
sc. female figure standing. ;

SC,
IMPCAESAR VESPASIANAVG COs III R. VICTOR. sc.
VESPASIAN R. victory with shield. sper. sc.

—— R. Two figures with shield. so,

238

Che Flora of Wiltshire,
Flowering Dlants and Ferns indigenous to the County;

By Tuomas Bruces Frower, M.R.C.S., F.L.S., &e., &e.
No. IX.

ORDER. UMBELLIFERZ. (JUSS.)

So called from the arrangement of the flower-stalks in heads or
‘umbels.’ The products of the group vary much in character. Some
are acrid and virulently poisonous, some secrete gum-resins, others
again are aromatic and useful as condiments. Celery, Fennel,
Parsnip, Carrot, and Parsley, are all familiar esculents belonging
to the Order.

Hyprocoryiz, (Linn.) Marsn Penny-wort.
Linn. Cl. vy. Ord. ii.

Name. From hydor water, and cotyle, a cavity ; in allusion to the
slightly concave form of the leaves, whose roundness gives origin
to the English name Penny-wort.

1. H. culgaris, (Linn.) common Marsh Penny-wort. Engl. Bot.
t. 751. Reich. Icones, t. 1842.

Locality. Bogsand moorish ground, notcommon. P. Fl. May,
August. Area, 1.* 3. 4. *

South Division.

1. South-east District,“ Neighbourhood of Salisbury,” Mr. James
Hussey. ‘ Rivuletson Alderbury Common,” Dr. Maton. “ Ames-
bury,” Dr. Southby.

8. South-west District, “Boggy ground near Warminster,” Mr.
Wheeler. .

North Division.

4. North-west District, On swampy ground near the Mill in Spye
Park. ‘Pond on Bowden Hill,” Dr. Alexander Prior.

The flowers being very small, and the flower-stalks shorter than
the leaf-stalks, are easily overlooked, though they are abundant in

|
)
i
|

BE. By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 239

their season; but the plant is easily known by the petiole being
inserted into the centre of the underside of the leaf, a circumstance
uncommon in European plants. It affords an excellent example of

what Linnaus calls foliwm peltatum.
SanicuLA, (Linn.) SANICLE.
| Linn, Ol. v. Ord. ii.
Name. From sano, (Lat.) to heal, in allusion to its supposed
j

- medicinal properties.

1. 8. Europea (Linn.) Wood Sanicle. Engl. Bot. t. 98, Reich.
~ Teones, t. 1847.

4 Locality. Woods and thickets, on a chalky or loamy soil. P.
Fi. June, July. ‘Area, 1. 2.3. 4. 5. In all the districts more or

3 less distributed.
—— [Apium graveolens (Linn.) Engl. Bot. ¢. 1210. Not truly wild

in Wilts, but occurs occasionally throughout the Districts in damp
_ ditches, and by roadsides, as a straggler introduced through culti-

_ yation. | >

PrrrosELINUM, (HorrM.) PARSLEY.
Linn. Ol. v. Ord. ii.
Name. Compounded of petros, (Gr.) a rock, and se/inon, (Gr.)
parsley, it being a native of stony or rocky places.

1. P. segetum, (Koch) corn Parsley, Hone-wort, Jit. of the crops ;
Sison (Sm.) Engl. Bot. t. 228. Reich. Icones,

4 nm. plur. of seges.
#. 1856.
Locality. In rather moist fields, and on ditch-banks where the
e. B. Fi. August, September. Area, 1. * * 4.5.
> South Division.
ol, South-east District, “ Frequent about Salisbury,” Mr. James
Hussey. ‘“‘ Amesbury,” Dr. Southby.

* North Division.

4. North-west, District, Monkton Farley Avenue, also about Box
| Rudlow. .
5. North-east District, “ Fields between the Forest, and Mar-
ell-hill,” Mr. Reebs. Very local in Wilts, according to my own

soil is calcareous, rar

240 The Flora of Wiltshire.

notes, and seldom to be found for any length of time in the same
places. A singular wiry and slender plant, with much the habit of
* Bupleurum tenuissimum,”’ and remarkable for the very small few-
rayed umbels. Entire plant extremely smooth and glabrous, dull
glaucous green, very weakly aromatic.

P. sativum (Hoffm.) Engl. Bot. Suppl. t. 2793. Common
Garden Parsley, distinguished from this by the doubly pinnated
root-leaves and the many rayed umbels, has no claim to a place in
a County Flora, nor have I ever seen it even apparently wild. |

Hetoscrapium, (Kocu.) MarsH-wort.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. Compounded of helos,a marsh, and sciadion an umbel,
meaning an umbelliferous plant, inhabiting marshes.

1. H. nodiflorum, (Koch.) knot-flowered Marsh-wort. Sium (Sm.)
Engi. Bot. t. 639. Reich. Icones, t. 66.

Locality. Banks of the Avon, ditches, and slow running streams.
A frequent companion of the water-cress. P. Fl. August. Area,
1. 2.3.4. 5. Distributed throughout all the Districts. It varies
much in size and foliage, when the plant is small, with several
slender quite prostrate creeping stems, deeply toothed leaves, and
stalked umbels, it is the H. repens, (Koch.) Sium-repens, (Linn.)
Engl. Bot. ¢. 1431, and is not uncommon in the county, growing
in watery places and boggy meadows, and on the borders but not
in the water of ditches and rivulets.

2. H. inundatum, (Koch.) inundated Marsh-wort. Siwm (Smith)
Engl. Bot. t. 227. .

Locality. Floating in swamps and shallow ponds, or creeping

on their partially exsiccated margins, rare. P. Fi. June, July.
Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts but easily overlooked, and
consequently supposed to be more rare than is the fact.

Stson, (Linn.) Stone or Hone-wort.
Lryy. Cl. v. Ord. ii. ;
Name. From sizun, signifying in Celtic a running brook; some of
the plants formerly placed in this genus delighting in such situa-
tions.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 241

1.8. Amomum (Linn.) Hedge Stone-wort. So named in reference
to the genus Amomum. -Amomum (Gr.) is the ancient name of
4 some aromatic production of the East, probably ginger, or Car-
_ damom. The Amomum is used by the Eastern nations in emblam-
ing, and is called momia, or mumia, whence perhaps the word Mum-
my. Lngl. Bot. t. 954. Reich Icones, t. 1849.

_ Locality. In hedges, on banks, by road sides, and about the
_ borders of fields, pastures, and woods, chiefly on dampish calca-
-reous soil, B. FV. August. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all the districts
_ but sparingly, readily distinguished by its powerful pungent and
_ rancid aromatic odour.

Aicoropium (Linn.) Govur-wexp.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

_ Name. From aiz, aigos a goat, and podion a little foot, probably
from the cleft shape of the leaf.

1. &. Podagraria, (Linn.) Gout-weed. Podagra, (Lat.) signifies
the gout; from pous a foot, and agra aseizure. Engl. Bot. t. 940.
Reich. Icones, t. 1857.

Locality. In low moist cultivated ground, shady waste places,
and under hedges. P. Fv. May, June. Area, 1. 2. 8. 4. 5.

a . South Division.

‘ 1. South-east District, “Gardens at Salisbury,” Mr. James

a North Division.
9 4. North-west District, Corsham, Derry Wood near Stanley,
: ‘ Chippenham,” Dr: Aknander Prior.

C ench.” . Axford.’ miss «A frequent sag occurring in hedges near
ent or former gardens.” lor. Marib. A troublesome weed in

4

242 The Flora of Wiltshire.

Carum Carui (Linn.) Engl. Bot. t. 503. Meadows at Christian
Malford, (District 4.) Mr. J. Poole, MSS., “ Watson’s Bot. Guide.”
Possibly naturalized in the above locality, having been long culti-
vated for its aromatic carpels.

Bonium, (Linn.) Eartu-nvr.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. From (bounion) a species of turnip or radish, which the
root of buniwm resembles ; the English name earth-nut, has a similar
reference.

1. B. flecuosum (Linn.) Pig-nut, or twisted Earth-nut. So called
from the twisted form of the stem between the tuber and the sur-
face of the ground. Engl. Bot. t. 988. B. bulbocastanum of
Hudson and others; not of Linneus. B. denudatum De Candolle.

Locality. Woods and pastures in a gravelly soil. P. F7. May,
June. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Frequent throughout all the Districts.
An elegant plant, whose umbels of bright white flowers are very
conspicuous through the month of June. The tuber has a
sweetish and slightly pungent taste, and is sought after by children
of the Wiltshire peasantry under the name of Earth-nut, or Earth-
chestnut, from its resemblance to the latter fruit in flavour, when
the pungency is removed by roasting.

2. B. Bulbocastanum (Lina.) Chestnut-bulbed Earth-nut: So
named from bulbus (Lat.) a bulb, and eastanea, a chestnut, the root
having the form of the former and taste of the latter. Engl. Bot.
Suppl, t. 2862. Carum Koch. De Cand.

Locality. In cultivated fields, on the chalk marl not uncommon
on that formation. P. Fl. July, August. Area, * * * * 5.

North Division.

5. North-east District, “ Pewsey Downs,” Mr. C. Steadman, Rev.
T. F. Ravenshaw, MSS. This interesting species has recently been
added to the “ Wilts Flora,” by Ir. C. Steadman. Not having
myself seen specimens, or as yet visited the locality, I am quite un-
prepared to state whether the plant occurs sparingly or in any
quantity. Our common pig-nut B. fleruoswm, was long supposed
by British botanists to be identical with B, budbocastanum, which is

‘

a

——.

a

‘

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 243

P _ probaly the reason that the true plant so long escaped notice.
__ B. bulbocastanum was first observed by the late Rev. W. H. Coleman
_ at Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge, in 1838, and was determined
_ by Mr. H. C. Watson, by comparison with the Linnean herbarium.

Pimprvexsa, (Linn.) Burnet-Saxirrace.
Linn. Ol. v. Ord. ii.

Name altered, as Linneus informs us, from bipennula, or twice
4 pinnate ; in allusion to the division of the leaves.
1. P. Sazifraga, (Linn.) common Burnet-Saxifrage. Engl. Bot.
- ¢.407. Reich. Icones. t. 1869.
Locality. Dry pastures,on banks, and road-sides, in a sandy,
gravelly or chalky soil, frequent. P. Fl. July, September. Area, 1.
2.3.4.5. General in all the Districts. Warying in size, and also
in the form and division of its leaves. Some writers make several
varieties of it, but these are simply occasioned by the different age
_ of the plant, and the greater or lesser expansion of its foliage,
according to the soil in which it grows.
2. P. magna (Linn.) great Burnet-Saxifrage. Engi. Bot. t. 408.
— Reich. Icones, ¢. 1868.
Locality. Woods and hedges, chiefly on a chalky or limestone
4 soil, rare. P. Fl. July, August. Area, 1.** 4, *
Re South Division.

1. South-east District, ‘‘ Hedge-rows near Dovuios,!" Dr. Maton.
* Nat. Hist. Wilts.”
a North Division.
4. North-west District, “Corsham,” Dr, Alexander Prior. This
plant has not been observed in either station of late years. Larger
» a all its parts than the foregoing species, with the Jeaflets of the
‘Ur per /eaves much broader and less divided.

; Srum, (Linn.) Warer-Parsnep.
z Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.
Name according to Théis, from the word atte, water; from which

244 The Flora of Wiltshire.

Locality. Banks of the Avon, Canal, brooks and ditches. P. Fi.
August. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. More or less distributed throughout
the county.

Bourieurum, (Linn.) Haru’s-Ear.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. From Bos (Gr.) an ox, and pleuron (Gr.) arib; from the
ribbed leaves in some of the species. Hare’s-ear; from the shape
of the leaf.

1. B. rotundifolium, (Linn.) round-leaved Hare’s-ear ; or
Thorow-wax; so called from the oval perfoliate leaf. To wax is
an obsolete verb, signifying to grow; the stem appearing to grow
through the leaves. Engl. Bot. t.99. Reich. Icones, t. 1880.

Locality. Cornfields on a calcareous soil. A. Fl. July, August.
Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. *

South Division.

1. South-east District, “Near Amesbury, on Salisbury Plain
plentifully. Withering”—Bot. Guide. ‘‘Corn-fields at Pitton,” Dr.
Maton. Downton, Clarendon, and Amesbury,” Dr. James Hussey.

2. South Middle District, ‘Very plentifully near Shrewton,”
Dr. Maton.

3. South-west District, “Corn-fields at Warminster,” Ir. Wheeler.

; North Division.

4. North-west District, In corn-fields between Conkwell and
Farley Wick. Cornfields going from Pickwick to Chapel-Plaster.
*‘Rudlow,” Mr. C. E. Broome. ‘ Between the Old Horse and
Jockey, and South Wraxhall.” ‘“ Flor. Bath.” Extremely local,
and occurring periodically in all the above stations. This species
is nearly allied to B. protractum, which is common in corn-fields in
most parts of the Continent, and is distinguished by the fruit
being granulated between the ridges, and not striated as in B. ro-
tundifolium. It should be looked for in Wilts.

Cinan’tHE, (Linn.) Warer-Dropwort.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.
Named from oinos wine, and anthos, a flower; alluding to the
vinous smell of the blossoms.

ee

3 By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 245

1. A. fistulosa, (Linn.) fistulose, or tubular Water-Dropwort, the
stems and leaves being hollow like a pipe. Engl. Bot. t. 363.
Reich. Icones, t. 1898.

Locality. Ditches, rivulets, and marshy places. P. Fil. July,
August. Area, 1* 3. 4. 5.
eo, South Diviston. |
: 1. South-east District, “ Marshy ground near Alderbury,”
Dr. Maton. “ Ditches at Salisbury,” Dr. James Hussey.

8, South-west District, River-side at Boyton. ‘‘ Marshy places
3 about Bemerton,” and “ Britford meadows,” Major Smith.
P, North Division.
4, North-west District, Bogs at South Wraxall.
_ _ 5. North-east District, Canal-side between Swindon and Crick-
~ lade, “Great Bedwyn,” Mr. W. Bartlett. Not generally distributed
through Wilts, Chiefly remarkable for its tubular or fistulose habit,
- the petioles, and even the leaflets, of the upper leaves being hollow
_ like the stem.
2. GE. Lachendlii, (Gmel.) Lachenal’s, Water-Drop-wort. @.
4 Pimpinelloides (Smith), not of Linnzus. Engl. Bot. t. 347, Reich
3 Icones t. 1892.
_ Locality. Marshes, rare, P. Fl. July, September. Area. * * * 4. 5.
B North Division. ,
4, North-west District, Bogs between South Wraxall, and the
Old Horse and Jockey.
_ North-east District, Marshy places by the Canal between
indon and Cricklade. These are the only localities where L
ve as yet gathered the present species, though doubtless it is to be
ind in other parts of the County. Many of my correspondents
having unfortunately confused the CS. pimpinelloides of Linneus
th the present one, induces me to withold several stations recor-

by them, until its distribution can be more accurately ascer-
tained. ea

3. GE. crocata (Linn.) Hemlock-Water-Dropwort, Crocatus refer-
ring to the colour of the juice. Engl. Bot. t. 2313.

Locality. About the banks of the Avon, Canal, in low wet
ows, and along ditches and brooks, not unfrequent. P. Fi.

246 The Flora of Wiltshire.

July. Area, 1.2. 8.4.5. Distributed throughout all the Districts.
The largest of the species, and one of the most poisonous of the
umbellifere. The plant when not in flower is very like celery,
“ Apium graveolens,” and the large fleshy tubers of the root have a
smell and flavour inclining to that of the parsnep. The root in
which the deleterious quality of the plant most powerfully resides,
abounds in a yellow-coloured juice which has an acrid unpleasant
taste and fetid smell. When grown in a dry situation, this juice
disappears, or is secreted in a very small quantity, under which
circumstance some botanists regard it as a distinct species, the .
apiifolia of Sprengel, who seems to doubt whether we possess a
plant according with the CE. crocata of Linnzus.

4, CE. fluviatilis (Colem.) River-Water-Dropwort. Engl. Bot.
Suppl. t. 2944. Coleman in Ann. Nat. Hist. v. xi. 188, ¢. 3.

Locality. In running water where there is a depth of one to
three feet. P. Fi. July, August. Area, 1. * * * 5,

South Division.

1. South-east District, “River Avon at Salisbury,” Ur. James
Hussey.

North Division.

5. North-east District, Streams in the neighbourhood of Cricklade,
not unfrequent. Canal between Swindon and Cricklade. ‘‘ Kennet
and Avon Canal, near Marlborough,” Mr. Reebs.

Resembling C&. Phellandrium, but differing by the submersed
leaflets being divided into finger-like parallel segments, deeply cut
at the end, and in the fruit which is broadly elliptical, thrice as long
as the spreading styles, Botanists are indebted to the late Rey.
H. Coleman for having first directed attention to this plant, which
had long been confounded with CH. Phellandrium.

/ituvsa, (Linn.) Foor’s Parstey.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii. "
Name. From (aitho) to burn; in allusion to its acrid taste.
1. A. Cyndpium, (Linn.) common Fool’s Parsley, or dog’s
parsley, (kwnos) is the genitive of (kwon), a dog. Engi, ee. t.
1192. Reich. Icones, t. 1901.

ae ee

<_—-.* ees)

—

—
Po)
Pec! ~

Locality. Waste and cultivated ground. A. Fl. July, August.
Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Throughout the Districts common. Readily
distinguished from al/ other umbellate plants by what is called its
beard; three long pendulous leaves of the involucellum, all on one
side under the partial, and no involucrum to the general umbels.
The plant is generally considered deleterious, a quality supposed to
arise from the presence of a peculiar alkaline principle, called
-Cynapia.
—- [ Feeniculum officinale (All.) Engl. Bot. ¢. 1208, occurs in quarries
; about Winsley, (District 4) but not truly wild, probably an
escape from cultivation. |

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 247

Sizaus, (Besser) SuLPHUR-WoRT.

Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.
Name. A word used by Pliny to denote a kind of herb, like
Smallage.
‘1. S. pratensis (Bess.) meadow Pepper-Saxifrage. Cnidium
_ Silaus (Smith) Eng?. Bot. t. 2142. Lveich. Icones, t. 1928.
Locality. Meadows.and moist pastures. P. Fi. June, August.
Area, 1. 2. 3. 4.5. In all the Districts, but not general. Whole
A plant of a smooth dark green herbage, fetid when bruised, and
_ apparently rejected by cattle.
Ss Aneetica, (Linn.) ANGELICA.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.
a Named Angelic from its cordial and medicinal properties.
1: A. sylvestris (Linn.) wood or wild Angelica. Engl. Bot. t.

Flowers white or purplish.

= Pastinaca, (Linn.) Parsnep.

= Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Fr Name. From pastus food, in allusion to its nutritious qualities.
1. P. sativa (Linn.) common wild Parsnep. Engl. Bot. t. 556.
- Locality. Borders of fields and pastures in a chalky or gravelly

248 The Flora of Wiltshire.

soil. B. Fl. July. Area, 1. 2. 8. 4. 5. Generally distributed.
The garden parsnep is a variety of this, in which the biennial fusi-
form root has been enlarged by culture.

Heracieum, (Linn.) Cow-Parsnep.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. From (Heracles), Hercules, to whom it is dedicated.

1. H. Sphondylium (Linn.) common Cow-Parsnep, or hog-weed.
Parkinson (Zheatrum Botanicum) says, “it is called in Greek
Sphondylium, and Spondylion, for both are extant in good authors,
derived, as it is thought, from Spondyle, a flie, stinking like this.”
Engl. Bot. t. 939.

Locality. On moist hedge-banks, in damp pastures, woods, bor-

ders of fields, and waste bushy places, generally considered an

indication of good soil. B. Fl. July. Area, 1. 2. 3.4,5. Com-
mon in all the Districts. A tall, coarse looking plant. Its large
and handsome umbels being very conspicuous through the month
of July. A variety with leaves, more deeply cut, lobes narrower,
is the H. angustifolium (Sm.); it grows in similar situations, but
not so common.
Daucus, (Liny.) Carror.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. Daucus (Lat.), a word used by the old authors to denote
a carrot; said to be derived from (daio,) to make hot; from the sup-
posed medicinal properties ot the seeds.

1. D. Carota, (Linn.) common Carrot, (karos,) signifies a herb ;
also a drowsiness, which this plant is thought to induce. Engl,
Bot. t. 1174.

Locality. Pastures, borders of fields, and way-sides. B. Fi.
July, August. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Plentiful in all the Districts.
The Garden Carrot originated from this species, and affords an
additional instance to that of the parsnep, (Pastinaca sativa) of
the effects of cultivation upon vegetables.

Cavucatis, (Horrm.) Bur-Parstey.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. According to Linneus from (eo), to lie along,

ee

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 249

and kaulos, a stem, from their trailing along the ground.
1. C. daucoides (Linn.) daucus-like, or small Bur Parsley. Engi.
Bot. t. 197.
Locality. Corn-fields on a chalky soil. A. Fl. June. Area,
eee 4 *
North Division.

4. North-west District, Corn-fields at Bromham. ‘ Kingsdown,”
Mr. C. E. Broome.
The only localities at present ascertained for this rare plant in
_ Wilts. It has not, I believe been observed of late years in either

station.

Ss ee ee ee
4 ‘ ’
i ;

Toritis, (Apans.) Hepcz-Parsey.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. A name of very doubtful meaning, used by Adanson (a
_ French botanist), and maintained by others. Smith suggests from
_ toreuo, to carve or emboss, in allusion to the seed, which is covered
with tubercles.
1. 8. Anthriscus (Gaert.) upright ‘Hedge- Parsley. Caucalis
¥ Huds. Engl. Bot. t. 987.

Locality. In hedges, banks, by road-sides, and on the borders ©
of fields. A. Fl. July, August. Fr. September, October. Area,
a 2. 3. 4. 5. In all the Districts. Fruit small, egg- shaped, faintly

i. leaves, from T. infesta, the latter species is chiefly found among corn,
one never in hedges. T. Anthriscus seldom any-where but in hedges,
and among bushes.

a? 2 . T. infesta (Spr.) troublesome or spreading Hedge-Parsley. A
name sufficiently explicit. Caucalis (Curt.) Engl. Bot. t. 1314.
Locality. In waste and cultivated ground, especially amongst
corn. A. Fi. July, August. Fr. September, October. Area, 1.2.8.4.5.
% enerally distributed. Not unfrequently mistaken for the last
species ; well distinguished by the fruit, being rough, with spreading

250 The Flora of Wiltshire.

hooked bristles on the interstices, and three rows of straight adpressed
ones in the primary ridges.

3. T. nodosa (Gaert.) knotted Hedge-Parsley. The name applies
to the umbels which are knotted together, or sub-sessile on the
stem. Caucalis Huds. Engl. Bol. t. 199.

Locality. On banks, and about the borders of fields; most plen-
tiful in a gravelly or chalky soil, A. Fl. June, July, Fr. August,
November. Area, 1.2.3.4.5. In all the Districts, but not frequent.
Umbels very small, forming little heads, nearly sessile when in
flower; fruit smaller than the other species, the external ones only
of the umbel are furnished with bristles, which are longest on the
outside ; the inner ones have them generally reduced to the form of
tubercles.

Scanprx, (Linn.) SHEPHERD’s NEEDLE.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. From skeo (Gr.) to prick, because of the shape and long
points to the seeds, which in Wiltshire have acquired the name of
Beggar’s Needles.

1. 8. Pecten-Veneris (Linn.) Venus’s Comb; or Shepherd’s
Needle. Pecten (Lat.) signifies a comb; the English names all
refer to the length of the beak when in fruit, which renders this
plant one of the most remarkable of the order. Engl. Bot. t. 1897.

Locality. In cultivated land amongst corn, turnips, and other
crops. A. Fl. June, September. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5, Frequent in
all the Districts. Well distinguished by the very long and singular
appearance of the fruit.

Anturiscus, (Horrm.) BraKeD- ParsLey. -
Linn. Cl. y. Ord. ii.

Name. A word used by Pliny for a plant resembling Scandix.

1. A. sylvestris (Hoffm.) wild Beaked-Parsley, Wild Chervil, Cow-
weed. Cherophylilum Smith. Engl. Bot. t. 752.

Locality. In moist shady grassy places, damp hedge-banks, and
borders of fields. P. Fl. April, June. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all
the Districts. This is the earliest in flower of all our umbelliferous

.

es

ee ee

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 251

4 plants. Stem 3 feet high branched lower part downy, upper
glabrous. Umbels at first slightly drooping, rays smooth.
| 2. A. vulgaris (Pers.) common Beaked-Parsley. Scandix
Anthriscus (Linn.) Engl. Bot. t. 818.
| Locality. On hedge-banks, waysides, and in waste places, under
| walls. A. Fi. May, June. Area, 1. * * 4, *
; South Division.
1. South-east District, « Among rubbish on Milford Hill,” Dr.
_ Maton. “ Nat. Hist. Wilts.” “Waste ground in the neighbour-
: J ery,” Major Smith.
4 North Division.
4. North-west District, “ Chittoe,”’ Miss Meredith. ‘ Biddeston,
_ Slaughterford, Derry Hill, and Bowood,” Dr. Alexander Prior.
_ Whole plant of a delicate pale green, especially in the leaves, by
_ which it is at once distinguishable from all our other species in
_ this order.
x CH#ROPHYLLUM, (Linn.) CHERVIL.

Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

_ Name. From (chairo), to rejoice, and (phylion) a leaf;
a word employed by old authors in reference to the smell of
% the leaves of C. sativum, odoratum, aromaticum, etc. The
English name appears to be a corruption of the Latin—Cherophyll,
_ chervil. :

1. ©. temulentum, (Linn.) intoxicating or rough-leaved Chervil.
The herb has a sweetish aromatic flavour, but it is considered
4 deleterious, as the specific name, temulentum, denoting a narcotic
orintoxicating quality implies. Myrrhis temulenta Smith. Engi.
Bot. t. 1521. ;

” Locality. 1n woods, hedges, and waste places. P. Fl. June, July,

Area, 1, 2,3, 4,5. Common in all the Districts. The roughness,
d ark purple spots, and swollen joints of the stem, will at once dis- -

ti nguish it. This plant so imperceptibly takes the place of
A; thriscus sylvestris with its flowers, as the season advances, that
he two are often confounded, though they will be found very dis-
upon examination.

. TX.—NO. XXVII. T

252 The Flora of Wiltshire.

Contum, (Linn.) Hemnock.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. ii.

Name. (Koneion), a word used by Aristotle, and others for the
plant hemlock.

1. C. maculatum, (Linn.) spotted Hemlock, Maculatus (Lat.)
signifies spotted. Hemlock so called from the dry hollow stalks that
remain after flowering. Engi. Bot. ¢. 1191.

Locality. By the side of the Avon, hedge-banks, and waste
places, especially on gravel, B. Fl. June, July, Area. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Generally distributed. This is best distinguished by its glossy
spotted stem, deep green shining leaves, strong foctid smell when
bruised, and by the unilateral partial involucres, and wavy crenate —
ridges of the fruit.”

ORDER. ARALIACEZ, (JUSS.)
Avoxa (Liny.) Moscuaret.
Linn. Ol. viii Ord. iii.

Name. From a, without and (dora) glory ; from the humble and
insignificant aspect of this little Aower.

1. A. Moschatéllina, (Linn.) tuberous Moschatel. The flowers
have a musky smell in the evening, or early in the morning while
moist with dew, and hence the name of moschatellina, derived from
(moschos) musk. Engi. Bot. ¢ 453.

Locality. In moist shady places, under hedge-banks, and about
the roots of trees on loamy soil. P. Fi. April, May. Area,
1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts not uncommon. This is an un-
obtrusive little plant, delighting to grow in moist shady places, in
woods, and similar situations ; a circumstance which has not escaped
the notice of the poet;

“« Adoxa loves the greenwood shade ;
There, waving through the verdant glade,
Her scented seeds she strews.”

Hepera, (Linn.) Ivy.
. Linn. Cl. v. Ord. i.
Name. Supposed to be from edera a seat, from its clinging to,
or sitting upon old walls, &e.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 253

1. H. Helix (Linn. ) common Ivy. Helivisa Latin noun derived
from (helisso), to creep or encircle. Thus Hedera Helix is a creeping
or encircling Ivy. Engl. Bot. ¢. 1267.

Locality. Hedges, woods, old buildings, and trunks of trees.
Sh. Fl. October, November. Fr. April. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4,5. Gen-
erally distributed. An evergreen of excessive elegance, and a

: universal favourite, ever enfolding our hedges, rocks, ruins, and

trunks of trees, in a rich entangled mantle of verdure and beauty.

_ Stems every long, creeping, throwing out numerous 7oots by which

| they adhere to hard substances. Leaves very shining, dark green,

often veined with whitish lines. FVowers small, pale green. A

3 variety called the Irish Ivy, is much cultivated on account of the

vastly larger size of its foliage, and its very rapid growth.

3

ORDER. CORNACE. (DE CAND.)
Cornus, (Liny.) Doc-woop-CornuL-TREE.
Linn. Cl. iv. Ord. i.

Name. Probably from cornu (Lat.), a horn, in reference to the
hard substance of the wood. Virgil mentions the wood as being
useful for warlike instruments—‘‘ Bona bello cornus,”’ though the
modern name Dog-wood does not imply so good a reputation.
1. G. sanguinea (Linn.) blood-red or wild Cornel, in allusion to
_ the redness of the bark. From sanguis (Lat.) blood. Engi. Bot. t.
249. St. 52—8.
% Locality. Woods and thickets, particularly on a chalk or lime-
q ‘stone soil. Sh. Fl. June, Fr. September. Area, 1, 2. 3.4. 9.
General throughout the County. The white blossoms of the Dog-
; “wood are very conspicuous in our hedges throughout the month of
Tune, and whilst its blood-red twigs relieve the monotonous colour-
ing of the winter landscape, the deep purple brown of the fading
Bo leaves adds to the rich tinting of our autumnal scenery.

ORDER. LORANTHACE. (JUSS,)
Viscum, (Linn.) MistLeroe.
a Linn. Cl. xxii. Ord. ii.
Name. The name of Latin authors, derived from (sco) ,the same
to hold.

arr: .

3) at

a

254 The Flora of Wiltshire.

1. V. album (Linn.) common white Mistletoe. The word Mistle-
toe is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Mistiltan, from misti, differ-

ent, and ¢an, twig, being so unlike the tree it grows upon. Engl. .

Bot. t. 1470. Sé. 8.

Locality. Pavasitical on various trees, especially on the Apple-
tree (Pyrus Malus), the Hawthorn (Crategus oxyacantha), the Ash,
(Fraxinus excelsior), the White-thorn (Prunus spinosa), but rarely
on the oak (Quercus Robur), Shrub, Fi. April, May. Area, 1.*3.4.*

South Division.

1. South-east District, ‘On Prunus spinosa at Whiteparish,” Dr.
Maton. “Nat Hist. Wilts.” “On Pyrus Malus, in the neigh-
bourhood of Salisbury,” Mr. James Hussey. “In an orchard
between Alderbury and Trafalgar,” Major Smith. “Landford but
only on Pyrus Malus, as far as I have observed,” Rev. E. Simms.

3. South Middle District, “In orchards about Warminster,” Mr.
Wheeler.

North Division.

4. North-west District, On Pyrus Malus, at Limpley Stoke. Old
apple-trees in an orchard at Box. On Crategus oxycantha in the
Park at Corsham. At Notton on Frazinus. Very common in Spye
Park and Bowood on Crategus. ‘In the neighbourhood of Chip-
penham,” Dr. Alexander Prior. The Mistletoe doubtless is found
in (Districts 2 and 5), but we have no note of its occurrence. A small,
evergreen, parasitical, crowdedly branched, bushy shrub, of very
slow growth, pendant from the trunks and branches of trees. Root
woody, inserting itself into the bark of the tree on which it grows,
and propagating itself as shewn by the late Professor Henslow
(Loudon’s Mag. Nat. Hist. 6, 500) by extending between the bark
and young wood green filamentary scions, which at intervals give
off at right angles other portions of a lighter colour, and these
striking into the young wood of the tree throw up suckers which
become individual plants. The most remarkable circumstance
however in the history of the Mistletoe is its mode of growth. It
is invariably found flourishing upon, and imbibing its support, from
the juices of some tree, it has never been met with attached to earth,
nor can any treatment induce it to grow there. The plant is said

Oe

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 255

to be chiefly propagatéd by birds of the Thrush family, especially
the Fieldfares, and Redwings, who are tempted to feed on its white-
berries when other supplies fail, and in cleansing their bills upon
the rind of various trees frequented by them, leave behind a few
of the clammy seeds, to perpetuate the continuance of the parasite.
It is not improbable also that the seeds pass through the bodies of
birds, uninjured as stated by old writers, and even benefited by the
_ forward tendency thus given them to earlier germination,

| ORDER. CAPRIFOLIACEH. (JUSS.)

eo Samsucus, (Linn.) Exper.

a Linn. Cl. v. Ord. iii.

_ Name. An old word used by Pliny and others to signify the
elder-tree, derived from aambuea, a musical instrument, usually
made of this tree.

1. S. Hbulus (Linn.) dwarf Elder, or Dane-wort Ebulus, a word
used by Pliny to denote some plant with red berries. Our ances-
_ tors evinced a hatred of their enemies, the Danes, in supposing this
”@ ‘nauseous, feetid, and noxious plant to have sprung from their blood ;
hence it was formerly called Dane-wort.! Engl. Bot. t. 475.
Locality. In waste ground, way-sides, and about hedges, not
’ common. P. Fl. August. Area, 1. * 8. 4. 5.

South Division.
; a: South-east District, “ Near Redlynch,” Dr. Maton. “ Nat.
pit Wilts.” “Pewsey,” Rev. T. F. Ravenshaw.

ee South-west District, “ Bishopstone,” Mr, James Hussey.

North Division.

ae
z's

“ ubrey’s Nat. Hist. Wilts,” p. 50.

a

_ 2% Dwarfe-elder (ebulus) at Box, &c., common enough, at Falston and Stoke
Verdon, in the high waies.” ‘‘ dubrey’s Nat. Hist. Wilts,” p. 52.

256 The Flora of Wiltshire.

“Flora Marib.” Not general in Wilts. Flowers larger than in the
common Elder, white, tipped with dark rose-red or purple, of a
strong peculiar odour. Segments of the corolla with an inflexed
point. Filaments white, singularly thickened, uneven on their
surface. Anthers purple.

2. 8. nigra (Linn.) common or black-berried Elder. Engl. Bot.
t. 475. ;

Locality. In woods, thickets, copses, and hedge-rows, especially
on chalk. Tree, Fl. June, July, Fr. August, September. Area,
1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts... The flowers and leaves of this
tree have a scent which is unpleasant to many, and which has
much analogy to that of the black currant.

Visurnum, (Liny.) GuripER-Rosz.
Linn. Cl. v. Ord. iii.

Name. According to Vaillant, the word Viburnum is derived ,
from the Latin vieo, to tie; on account of the pliability of the
branches of some species. Viburna in the plural appears to have
been applied by the ancients, to any shrubs that- were used for
binding or tying.

1. V. Lantana (Linn.) Mealy Guelder-rose, Way-faring-tree.
Lantana was the old name of Viburnum, now applied to the species.
The young shoots, and under surface of the leaves are thickly
clothed with stellated tufts of down, communicating a mealy
appearance, and hence the English name Meal-tree, or Mealy
Guelder-rose. Wayfaring-tree, from growing in hedges, by the
road-side. Engl. Bot. t. 331.

Locality. Hedges and thickets, especially where the soil is at all
calcareous. Tree, FV. May, June, Fr. August, September. Area,

1 «Elders grow every-where. At Bradford the side of the high hill which —
faces the South, about Mr. Paul Methwin’s house, is covered with them. I
faney that that pent might be turned to better profit, for it is situated as well
for a vinyard as any place can be, and is on a rocky gravelly ground. The ~
apothecaries well know the use of the berries, and so doe the vintners, who buy
vast quantities of them in London, and some doe make no inconsiderable profit
by the sale of them.” ‘ Aubrey’s Nat, Hist. Wilts,” p. 56.

a
ie By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. . 257

7

fave. 3.4.5.) A large*shrub with copious, opposite, round, pliant,
mealy branches. JVowers white. Fruit compressed in an early
state, red on the outside, yellow and finally black. Decaying

leaves of a fine deep red. Viburnum tinus a native of the South
of Europe, is the Laurustinus of our gardens.

2. V. Opulus (Linn.) common Guelder-rose, Water Elder, Opulus
(Opier, Fr.) perhaps from Opulentus, on account of its fine appear-
ance when in flower. Engi. Bot. t. 8332, St. 27. 6.
Locality. In low moist woods, thickets, and banks of streams.

_ Tree, Fl. May, June, Fr. September, October. Area, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
— In ail the Districts.
The marginal flowers of each cyme in this plant, are barren, and
consist of a large, irregular, five-lobed petal, without organs of
fructification ; those of the centre are smaller, regular, and fur-
nished with stamens and pistils. When cultivated, all the central
- flowers of the cyme, like those of the circumference, lose the organs
of fructification, each becoming a flat expansion of the five-lobed
corolla around a minute point, whilst the entire cyme assumes
: a globular form. In this state it is familiar to most persons as
4 the Guelder-rose, or Snowball-tree of our gardens, and shrubberies,
to which it is a great but transitory ornament. Cowper describes
the pleasing effect produced by the flowers of this tree when
mingled with others :—

‘¢ The scentless rose and tall,
And throwing up into the darkest gloom
Of neighbouring cypress, or more sable yew,
Her silver globes, light as the foaming surf
That the wind severs from the broken wave.”

|
|
|

Lonicera, (Linn.) Hontysuckte.
. Linn. Cl. v. Ord. i.
_ Named in honour of Adam Lonicer, & German botanist.

«¢ Witty-tree, or wayfaring-tree, is rare in this country; some few in
— Chace, and three or four on the south downe of the farme of Broad
Chalke. In Herefordshire they are not uncommon; and they used, when I was
F: oy; to make pinnes for the yoakes of their oxen of them, believing it had
‘tue to preserve them from being forespoken, as they call it; and they use to
one by their dwelling-house, believing it to preserve from witches and
eyes.” ‘¢ Aubrey’s Nat. Hist. Wilts,” p,. 56,

258 The Flora of Wiltshire.

1. L. Periclymenum (Linn.) common H%neysuckle. The name
Periclymenum is derived from (peri), around, and (kulio) to roll.
Eng. Woodbine. ngi. Bot. ¢. 800.

Locality. Woods, and hedges, Shrub. Fl. June, September, Fr.
August, October, Area, 1. 2. 3.4.5. Generally distributed. This
is the true Woodbine of poets :

‘*So doth the woodbine, the sweet honey suckle,
Gently twist the maple.”

In this shrub is seen an exemplification of that curious natural law
that governs the movement of twining plants, in obedience to which
the stems and tendrils of each species constantly twine in the same
direction. The Woodbine for instance always twines from left to
right, and the Convolvulus sepium does the same; while the Zamus
communis takes the opposite direction, twining from right to left.
A variety, 8. foliis quercinis (oak-leaved), occurs not uncommonly
in newly cut woods, and is probably a mere accidental variation
produced by cutting strong plants down to the ground.

ORDER. RUBIACEA. (JUSS.)
Suerarpia, (Linn.) SHERARDIA oR Fretp Mapper.
Linn. Cl. iv. Ord. i.

Named in honour of James Sherard, an English botanist and
patron of that science, whose fine garden at Eltham in Kent gave
rise to the famous “ Hortus Elthamensis”’ of Dillenius.

1. 8. arvensis (Linn.) blue Sherardia, or corn-field Madder.
Engl. Bot. t. 891.

Locality. In fallow fields, and amon corn, especially on a light
gravelly or sandy soil, frequent. A. FU. May, July. Area,
1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts. This little plant has much the
habit of a Galium, but it is readily distinguished from that genus
by the fruit being crowned by the calyx.

Asprrvta, (Linn.) Wooprvurr.
Linn. Cl. iv. Ord. i.

Name. A diminutive of asper (Lat.) rough ; whence the English
name Wood-roof or ruff.

Fe ee ee en ee

.

-

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 259

1. A. odorata, (Linn*) sweet Woodruff. Engl. Bot. t. 755.
Locality. Woods and shady places on a loamy soil. P. FV.
May, June. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. Generally distributed throughout
Wilts. Flowers small, pure white. Whole plant very fragrant,
like Anthoxanthum, especially when drying.
2. A. cynanchica, (Linn.) Quinsy-wort, Squinancy-wort. It
had’ the name cynanchica, because it was used as a remedy for the
disease called Squinancy, or Quinsy, and was thence in English
_ termed Squinancy-wort. The termination “wort,” is of Saxon
origin, and was applied as a general name for an herb; whence it
still continues in many as Liverwort, Spleenwort, and the above
Squinancy-wort, Engl. Bot. t. 33.
Locality. On dry open hilly pastures, heaths and banks, abund-
ant on the Downs throughout the chalk. P. Fl. June, July. Ayea,
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

“= Fe

South Division.
1. South-east District, In plenty on Pewsey Downs. On the
ramparts of Old Sarum. “Not uncommon in the neighbourhood
of Salisbury,” Mr. James Hussey. ‘‘ Amesbury,” Dr. Southby.

2. South Middle District, About the barrows near Stonehenge,
and distributed more or less over Salisbury Plain. Not unfrequent
on the downs at Westbury.

8. South-west District, Warminster, and common on the higher
3 ; parts of the downs.
ae North Division.

4, North-west District, “On hilly ground that has been quar-
ried at Box, Lucknam, and Slaughterford,” Dr. Alexander
_ Prior.

5. North-east District, On the slopes about Roundway down.
_ In plenty on the chalk-hills above Aldbourne. “ Martinsell Hill,
WwW hite-Horse down, and Forest Hill,” ‘Flora. Marlb.” Flowers
_ generally lilac. One pair of the leaves, in the uppermost whorl,
is reduced to small lanceolate stipu/es, exhibiting beautifully the
real character of the stipules of the Rubiacew in general, of which
the Stediate are considered by most authors, to constitute a

260 The Flora of Wiltshire.

Gauium (Linn.) Bep-srRaw.
Linn. Ol. iv. Ord. i.

Name. From (gala) milk; some species are used for eurdling
milk ; whence it is also called True-Cheese-Rennet.

1. G. cruciatum, (With.) Cross-wort, Bedstraw-Mugwort. From
crux, (Lat.) a cross, from its leaves which are always four in a
whorl forming across. Engl. Bot. t. 148.

Locality. Hedges, borders of woods, and fields, on a chalky or
sandy soil, also on the banks of the canal, and Avon, P. Fl. May,
June. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Not uncommon in Wilts. Flowers,
small, about 8, on slender hairy corymbose stalks, from the axils of
the leaves, accompanied by two smaller ovate leaves, upon the
peduncle, some wanting the pistil, some 3-cleft, a few only 5-cleft

2. G. tricorne, (With.) three horned Bed-straw. Rough fruited
Goose-grass, from tres, three, and cornu, a horn, in allusion to the
three-flowered peduncles, and reflexed fruit. Engl. Bot. t. 1641.

Locality. In dry chalky corn-fields, and cultivated ground. 4.
Fl. June, October, Fr. September, October. Area, 1. * * 4.5.

South Division.

1. South-east District, ‘Fields near Downton,” Dr. Waton.
“ Nat. Hist. Wilts.”

North Division.

4. North-west District, Corn-fields in Monkton Farley avenue,
cultivated fields about Rudlow and Box. “Chippenham,” Dr.
Alexander Prior.

5. North-east District, In plenty about Morden and Purton.
This species occurs but sparingly both in the Southern and
Northern Districts of the county. Flowering with the corn, or
sometimes later on the stubble, it is not unlikely to have been
overlooked. The whole herb ofa pale yellowish green, strongly res-
embling the much more common “G. -Aparine,” and like it, ten-
aciously adhering to every object with which it comes in contact,
by means of its small, but strong prickles. It would be desirable
to have the distribution of this plant more accurately ascertained
for Wilts.

3. G. Aparine, (Linn.) Goose-grass or Cleavers. So called from

a

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 261

(aparine) a certain herb, a name of doubtful origin. The English
name Cleavers, from the whole plant being thickly covered with
hooked bristles. Engl. Bot. t. 816.

Locality. Hedges, A. Fl. June, August. Area, 1.2. 3. 4.5.
Abundant in all the Districts. Plant straggling among bushes
under surface of the leaves, smooth, except the midrib. Flowers,

few, pale, buff-celoured. Fruit a double globe.
| 4. G. Moliugo, (Linn.) great hedge Bed-straw. The tallest of
our native species of galium. Mollugo is a word used for some
4 plant by Pliny, (derived from mollis. signifying soft,) and refers
probably to the leaves, which are hairy, but never rough to the
touch, as most of the other species of this genus are. Engl. Bot.

— t. 1673. }
. Locality. Hedges and thickets. P. Fl. July, August. Area,
1.2. 3. 4. 5. Generally distributed. Stem, 3 or 4 feet high, or
“taller if supported by bushes; more dwarf upon our open chalky
_ downs. Leaves generally very smooth, except the edges, which
; are beset with small prickles pointing forwards. Segments of the
corolla three-ribbed, each tipped with a tumid point, not a bristle.
Fruit small, often abortive. The copious milk-white flowers of the
great Hedge Bed-straw, very conspicuously adorn our hedge-
rows in the latter months of summer.

5. G. erectum, (Huds.) upright Bedstraw. Engl. Bot. ¢. 2067.
Locality. Banks, and pastures, rare. P. Fi. June, August.

i South Division.

8. South-west District, “ Borders of New Hall Park,”’ Major Smith.
es North Division. :

ce 4, North-west District, ‘Meadows about South Wraxhall,” Mr.
Sole. MSS. Flor. Somerset.

_-‘Very local in Wilts. A doubtful species, and perhaps not dis-
tinct from G. Mollugo. Some botanists can distinguish it from the

but in all these particulars I fear there are intermediate states.
Scarcely any genus requires illustration more than Galium.
u2

262 The Flora of Wiltshire.

6. G. verwm, (Linn.) true or yellow Bed-straw, Lady’s Bed-straw.
The common name Bed-straw given to all the species is from the
verb strew, anciently written straw. Before the invention of
feather-beds, a variety of herbs were used to strew beds with;
among these doubtless this was one. Engl. Bot. t. 660.

Locality. Dry pastures, bushy places, and borders of fields. P.
Fil. July, August. Area, 1.2.3. 4.5. In ail the Districts, common.
Flowers very numerous, in dense tufted panicles. Segments of the
corolla greatly expanded. Jrwit small, round, blackish. Readily
distinguished by its yellow flowers and linear deflexed leaves. _

7. G. sawatile, (Linn.) Rock or smooth heath Bed-straw. Engi.
Bot. t. 815.

Locality. Heaths, downs, and dry open places, in woods. P.
Fi. July, August. Area, 1. 2. 8. 4. 5. Generally distributed
throughout Wilts. Flowers milk-white, in smooth, forked terminal
and lateral panicles. Fruit small, studded all over with minute,
prominent granulations, by which alone it may be known from
any other British Galium except the tricorne. Plant usually small,
but when growing in swampy places among grass, and rushes, then
almost a foot high, and sometimes mistaken for G. wliginosum.
Turns nearly black in drying.

8. G. uliginosum, (Linn.) Marsh-Bed-straw, from uligo, ooziness.
Engl. Bot. t. 1972.

Locality. Wet meadows, sides of ditches, and boggy places, rare.
P. Fl. July, August. Area, * * * 4, *

North Division.

4. North-west District, In a field near the ‘‘ Horse and Jockey,”
Kingsdown; and near South Wraxhall. This is the only locality,
where I have myself observed this species. The other stations
reported to me must all be referred to G. palustre, which has been
confused by many of my correspondents, with the present plant. G.
uliginosum, is at once distinguished from the next, by the narrow
leaves, shortly accuminated at their points into a mucro. J¢ does
not turn black in drying. I should be obliged for any trust-
worthy information respecting the distribution of this species in
Wilts.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 263

9. G. palustre, (Linn.) Marsh-Bed-straw, White- Water-Bed-
straw. Engl. Bot. t. 1857. G. elongatum (Presl.)

Locality. Wet places by the Avon, and canal, also sides of
ditches and rivulets. P. Fl. July, August. Area, 1. 2. 8. 4. 5.
Frequent in all the Districts. Leaves varying in size and number
on different parts of the plant; smooth, except a few scattered
bristles on the edges and back. Panicles widely spreading. Frutt

of two turgid lobes, minutely dotted. G. Witheringii (Sm.), Eng/.
Bot. t. 2206, appears to be chiefly distinguished by the more
numerous and apparent reflexed bristles of the stem and leaves,
and is not unfrequent in the county. A stronger form, much
- larger in all its parts, is the G. elongatum (Presl.)

ORDER. VALERIANACEZ. (JUSS.)
VALERIANA, (Linn.) VALERIAN.
Linn. Cl. iii. Ord. i.

Name. Probably from valere, to be in health ; in allusion to its
medicinal properties. .
1. V.~. officinalis, (Linn.) officinal, or great wild Valerian.
Reich. Icones, xii. 727. St. Fi. 9.
Locality. Sides of the Avon, ditches, and moist woods. P. Fi.
_ June, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In ail the Districts. Whole
plant 2 to 4 feet high. Stems striated. Lower /eaves on long foot-
stalks. Flowers pale, flesh-coloured. V. sambucifolia (Mikan.),
.Y.. officinalis (Smith), Engi. Bot. ¢. 698, may be distinguished by
_ having fewer and broader segments to the leaves, and will possibly
. be found to be the more common form throughout Wilts.
2. V. dioica, (Linn.) dicecious, or small marsh Valerian. Dioica
is derived from (dis) two, and (oikos) a house, the barren and fertile
plants being distinct.
j * ‘Two houses hold this fashionable pair.’”—Darwin.
Engl. Bot. t. 628. St. Fl. 9.
Locality. In moist boggy meadows. P. Fl. May, June. Area,
ie -2,)3. 4. 5. Generally distributed. Stem simple, 6 or 8 inches
I : Leaves and their segments mostly entire, occasionally ser-
‘rated. Flowers of a pale rose colour. —

— ——> wo

264 The Flora of Wiltshore.

VALERIANELLA, (MoEncH.) Corn Satan.
Linn. Cl. iii. Ord. i.

Name. A diminutive of Valeriana.

1. V. olitoria, (Moench.) common Corn Salad, or Lamb’s Lettuce.
— Olitorius is a Latin adjective used by Pliny and others to signify
“pertaining to a garden of pot-herbs;” from olus, a pot-herb. The
English name Lamb’s Lettuce, after a gardener of that name who
brought it into fashion as asalad. Engl. Bot. ¢. 811. St. 2, 3.
Reich. Icones, xii. 708. Fedia, Smith.

Locality. Banks and cultivated ground especially in a light soil.
A. Fl. May. June. Area, 1.2.3. 4. 5. General throughout the
county. Flowers pale blue, in round heads, none at the forks of
the stem. The /eaves vary in form, and division. Frequently
cultivated as a salad.

2. V. dentata, (Deitr.) tooth-calyxed Lamb’s Lettuce. Fedia
Smith. Engi. Bot. t.1870. Reich. Icones, xii 710. V. Morisonit
Dé Cand.

Locality. Fields on clay, and chalk, not very common. A. Fi.
June, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In all the Districts. Leaves
narrower than in the foregoing. lowers smaller, purplish, almost
all from the forks of the smooth stem. Capsule not inflated nor

lobed.
ORDER DIPSACACEZ.

Dirsacus, (Linn.) TEASEL.
Linn. Cl. iv. Ord. i.

Name. Dipsacus (Lat.) from (dipsao) to thirst, in allusion to the
leaves of the plant, which are so united as to hold water like a cup;
whence also it is sometimes called Venus’ Kettle.

1. D. sylvestris, (Linn.) wild Teasel. Engi. Bot. t. 1032.

Locality. By road-sides, along moist hedges, on ditch-banks,
and in wet woods, and thickets. B. Fl. July, August. Area,
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Distributed throughout the county. One of our
tallest. herbaceous plants. The flowers expand in successive rings
or zones on the large oval heads, commencing about the middle of
each. This species affords a good example of what are termed
connate leaves. The leaves are opposite, and so united at the base

a

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 265

as to form a kind of cup in which water collects, so that the stem
is completely surrounded by water at the places from which the
leaves arise. The water found collected within the cavity of the
connate leaves must, I imagine, be secreted or eliminated by the
plant itself, since I observed it to be abundantly furnished during
the present unusually dry and hot season, June, 1865. When norain
has fallen for some weeks, and very little dew has been deposited
at night, yet the water remains unevaporated by the intense heat of
the suns direct rays. I have remarked also that on the same plant
whilst some of the leaves held water in considerable quantity, others
contained either very little or none at all which seems to point at
a great inequality of the secreting activity of different leaves or
other parts of the individual plant. The old receptacles are called
_by the country children of Wiltshire, and other places Barber’s
Brushes, and they form, when the seeds have fallen out, if not a
| good-shaped at least a very penetrating hair brush.
oD, Fullonum, (Linn.) Fuller’s Teasel. Engi. Bot. ¢. 2080. Not
: wild in the county, but occasionally fonnd in the neighbourhood
of Melksham (North-west District), where it is sometimes culti-
vated. The heads of this plant are used by the manufacturers of
woollen cloths, in raising the nap to the desired length, which is
. effected by passing the cloth under rapidly revolving cylinders,
q covered with the teasels; by which process the hooked extremities
of the scales slightly catch the cloth, and produce the requisite
- effect.
_ The chief difference between D. Fullonum, and D. sylvestris,
‘appears to consist in the hooked extremities of the scales, but it
has been stated that by long cultivation on a poor soil, these hooks
become obsolete, and the scales assume the appearance of those of
D. sylvestris, consequently there is every reason to believe that D.
I Glonum is only a variety of sylvestris.
_ Dr. Prior tells us that the name Teasel, signifies to fease, and is
applied metaphorically to the scratching or teasing of cloth.

xe Popular Names of British Plants,” by R. C. A. Prior M.D. An admir-
work exhibiting considerable learning, and much research,

266 The Flora of Wiitshire.

2. D. pilosus, (Linn.) small Teasel, Shepherd’s Rod. Pilosus
(Lat.) signifies hairy, and is applied to this species in allusion to
the prickles, which are hair-formed under the flower heads; and
paleee which are linear-subulate and pilose. ngl. Bot. ¢.
877. ;

Locality. Moist hedges and shady places, especially where the
soil is chalky. B. FV. August, September. Area, 1. 2. * 4. *

South Division.

1, South-east District, Ditch-banks, near the Mill at Millford.
Very luxuriantly by the sides of a stream, to the right of the road
from Downton to Hale House,” Dr. Maton. “ Nat. Hist. Wilts.”
“Lane on the other side of Milford Hill leading to Claren-
don Farm,” Major Smith. “Milford Bridge,” Dr. James
Hussey.

2. South Middle District, In a field opposite Heywood House,
Westbury.

North Division.

4. North-west District, Woods about Colerne. Very local in
Wilts, and occurring but sparingly in the above localities. It
should be looked for in the other parts of the county. Flowers
white, forming globular hispid heads, barely an inch in diameter
on long peduncles.

Kwavtia, (Coutr.) Kwavrta.
Linn. Cl. iv. Ord. i.

Named in honor of Christopher Knant, Physician at Halle in —
Saxony.
1. K. arvensis, (Coult.) corn-field Knautia, Field Scabious, Great
Blue-cap. Engl. Bot. t. 659. ;

Locality. In pastures, corn-fields, and waste places. P. Fi,
July, September. Area, 1, 2. 8.4.5. Common in all the Districts.
Very like Scabiosa Columbaria, but a much stouter plant, usually
with longer and stiffer hairs. Vowers large and handsome, of a fine —
pale purple, on long stalked heads. It varies much in the diyisions —
of its leaves and in its hairiness, and sometimes occurs with white —
flowers.

By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 267

° Scasiosa, (Linn.) Scazious.
Linn. Cl. iv. Ord. i. '

Named from seabies, the Jeprosy; an infusion or decoction of
some of the species, having formerly been employed in curing
cutaneous diseases.

1.8. succisa, (Linn.) Devil’s-bit Scabious. Succisus (Lat.) means
cut or lopped off, and is applied to this species in allusion to the
_ root, which has a broken appearance, hence also the vulgar English
| name Devil’s-bit. Zngl. Bot. ¢. 878.

Locality. In rather moist meadows, pastures, heathy places,
and open grassy woods on the Downs. PP. Fl. July, October.
Area, 1.2.3.4, 5. Generally distributed throughout Wilts. The
root is a good illustration of what in botanical language is termed
Radiz premorsa, a premorse or abrupt root; this however is only
_ the case when the plant is above a year old, for during the first
year it is fusiform, after that it becomes woody, dies, and rots, the
upper part excepted, and this causes the eroded or bitten-off ap-
pearance, while the new lateral branches shooting out from the
part left, compensate the want of the old main root. This appear-
ance of an abrupt or stumped root is not peculiar to this plant, but
is observed in some species of Plantago, Apargia, and Valeriana.
2. 8. Columbaria, (Linn.) small Scabious. Columbaria is Latin
_ for a dove or pigeon-house, to which the allusion is not evident,
Engl. Bot. ¢. 1811.
Locality. On dry calcareous, or gravelly banks and pastures,
also on the chalky downs in several places. P. FU. July, August.
Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts. Leaves and flowers smaller
Phond more delicate than in Knautia arvensis, from which this species
is elegantly and decisively distinguished by the 5-cleft corolla,
7 which like that is radiant.
, The Capitulum of Scabiosa Columbaria, is not unfrequently met
_ with in a proliferous state, for an example of this interesting form,
: 43 am much indebted to Mr. James Hussey, who observed it growing
on Whiteparish Hill (North-west District).

“VOL. 1X.—NoO. XXVIL. x

~-

268

On an Ancised Soarking on the Ampost of the
Great Crilithon, at Stonehenge.

By Joun Tuurwam, M.D., F.S.A.

Read at the Annual Meeting at Devizes, November 24th, 1864.

if ae late years,attention has been much directed to certain curious

i) incised markings on the surface of rocks, adjacent to ancient
British camps and earthworks. There is great variety in their
form and arrangement, but they principally consist of concentric
circles surrounding a central dot or cup, from which a line more
or less straight extends outwards, bisecting one half of the circles
and reaching some distance beyond it; and so producing a figure
somewhat resembling the small Greek 9. These peculiar emblems

Fig. 1.—Principal Varieties of Ancient Incised Markings on Rocks or Stones in Northumberland.

or symbols of totally unknown import, are clearly the work and

device of man, and the common thought of some one people. They
are particularly numerous in the more northern parts of England,
and in Scotland; and especially in the counties of Northumberland —

Fig. 2.—Ancient Incised Markings on Rocks near the Crinan Moss, Argyleshire.
From Drawings by Mr. Henry Davenport Graham,

(Diameter of the largest circle about 36 inches.)

270 Incised Marking on the Impost

and Argyle. They are not confined to the surfaces of undisturbed
rocks near ancient British sites; but in one instance at least they
have been found on a large menhir, or standing stone. This is the
celebrated ortholith, connected with the well-known sacred circle
near Penrith, called “Long Meg and her Daughters:” indeed it
seems that it was on this stone that these curious designs were first

observed in the year 1835, by Sir Gardner Wilkinson.! There can ©

be little doubt that ‘Long Meg and her Daughters” formed a
consecrated site or place of assembly for the northern tribe of
Brigantes, just as the circles of Avebury and Stonehenge did for
the southern tribes of Dobuni and Belgex.? It was therefore not

1 Journ. Brit. Arch, Assoc. 1860, vol. xii. p. 118, where a full account of
these curious incised markings will be found. They had been previously and ap-
parently for the first time publicly described by the Rev. W. Greenwell of Durham,
in 1852, at the meeting of the Archeological Institute at Newcastle ; but itis only
during the last two or three years that they have attracted mnch notice. Now,
scarcely a month passes, without fresh discoveries of them. IntheCounty of North-
umberland alone, it is said that Mr.Tate ef Alnwick, has seen and counted about
three hundred and fifty of these lapidary concentric rock-cuttings. Among other
notices of them, see those in the Archeological Journal, vol. xxi, 1863, p. 87, 103,
163, 267.—Since this was written, a separate monograph on the subject has been
published by Mr. Tate ; “The ancient Sculptured Rocks of Northumberland and
the Eastern Borders. By George Tate, F.G.S., 1865. Fig. 1 in this paper, p. 268,
is a woodcut copied from one in Mr. Tate’s book in the Archeological Review,
for October 1865, p. 294. In this cut, examples are given of as many as
thirteen varieties of these curious incised markings, each of which is described
and defined by Mr. Tate.

?This monument of the ‘* unknown past,” has been described by the poet
Wordsworth, in a foot note to the Sonnet, written in 1833, in which he tells us
the effect which the first view of it excited in his mind :—

**Speek Thou whose massy strength and stature scorn
The power of years—pre-eminent and placed
Apart, to overlook the circle vast—
Speak, Giant-mother? Tell it to the Morn
While she dispels the cumbrous shades of Night ;
Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud;
At whose behest uprose on British ground
That Sisterhood !’”

The grand old Laureate was pre-eminent as an observer, and his description of
this celebrated spot deserves to be transfered from the pages of his poems to
those of the antiquary. Itisas follows:—‘‘ The daughters of Long Meg, placed
as a perfect circle eighty yards in diameter, are seventy-two in number above
ground ; a little way out of the circle stands Long Meg herself, a single stone,
eighteen feet high. When I first saw this monument, as I came upon it by
surprise, I might over-rate its importance as an object; but, though it will not

of the Great Trilithon, at Stonehenge. 271

unreasonable to search on the stones of the most remarkable and
celebrated of these monuments—Stonehenge, for traces of the same
or of analogous symbols or sculpturings. There was the more
reason for such a search from the fact, that although no marks pre-
cisely similar to those found on the rocks near the British camps
of Northumberland, and on the celebrated standing stone near the
Eden, had been observed in the south of England or in France,
yet that incised marks, perhaps intended only for ornament,
but certainly archaic, though in some cases probably of the nature of
symbols, and engraved at a great expenditure of time and labour,
are found on the inner surface of the stones of cromlechs, sepul-
chral chambers and cists, in England, France, and Ireland. The
only instance, to the best of my knowledge, in which such markings
have been found in the south of England, is on two covering stones
in a large barrow at Came in Dorsetshire, which was opened by
Mr. Charles Warne, F.S.A., nearly twenty years ago.! This case
is important, as showing that such graffiti are not confined to North
Britain, but may be expected to reward the search for them on
megalithic monuments and on rocks in the south of the island.

It was in February, 1861, that Dr. G. R. Tate, M.D., of the Royal
Artillery, visited Stonehenge as he informs us,? with a principal
object of looking for incised markings such as he was familiar with

— se
pic

| bear & comparison with Stonehenge, I must say, I have not seen any other
relique of those dark ages, which can pretend to rival it in singularity and
dignity of appearance.” Wordsworth had not seen the remains of our Avebury
Circles.

1Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. vol. iii, p, 51, Celtic Tumuli of Dorsetshire.
By Charles Warne, F.S,A. p. 37; where see a cut of the concentric circles.

2Proceedings at Meetings of the Archeological Institute, December 6, 1861.
Arch. Journ. vol. xix, 1862, p. 78.
' It is stated in the Archeological Journal, that ‘‘ one of the stones of this
trilith and the impost fell about one hundred years ago.” This is incorrect,
We are told expressly by John Aubrey, that it had fallen before his time, nearly
two centuries and a half since. From the pages of his Monumenta Britannica,
we learn that in the year 1620, when James the First was at Wilton, the Favourite
‘Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, “did cause the middle of Stonehenge to be
digged, and this under-digging was the cause of the falling downe or recum-
ney of the great stone there, twenty-one footelong.” ‘‘ Hoare, Ancient Wilts,
il, i. p. 174.

272 Incised Marking on the Impost

on the rocks near the British earthworks, on the Cheviots. ‘ After
long examination, I was delighted,” says Dr. Tate, “to catch a
glimpse of some symbol or character on the under surface of the
fallen impost of one of the great triliths of the inner circle. The
inscription is on the under surface of the impost, and occupies a
position midway between the mortices. It is about 9 inches in
length, and is (sharply) incised, but being encrusted with lichens
and weather-worn, it must be viewed in a particular light to trace
its form ; which, however, under favourable circumstances is distinct
enough, to an eye accustomed to read water-worn sculpturings. Its
form is here shown (see woodcut). About 3 inches from it is a hollow

Fig. 3.—Incised Marking on the Impost of the Great Trilithon at Stonehenge.
From a sketch by Dr. Tate, January, 1861.

-

2 of an inch in diameter, similar to those which are seen associated
with the remarkable markings on rocks in Northumberland. I be-
lieve this incised character to be archaic, probably coeval with the
erection of the Stonehenge circle; it has the same weather-worn ap-
pearance as the Northumberland sculpturings, which doubtless
were the work of ancient British people. Beyond generally ex- —
pressing an opinion as to the antiquity of the curious mark or
symbol, now first noticed at Bionehitae I do not attempt to specu-
late on its origin or meaning.”

On hearing of this discovery, and being furnished through the

kindness of Mr. Albert Way, with a copy of Dr. Tate’s sketch, I

of the Great Trilithon, at Stonehenge. 273

felt much interest in the matter, which seemed to be one of consider-
able importance. Here, on the under surface of the impost of the
great central trilith, on the centre of what may be regarded as the
key-stone of the whole structure, was a mark, which according to the
sketch of it, looked very much like a sort of astronomical symbol,
or if not that, seemed not unlike some of the ancient masons’
marks. It was clearly an object to establish the accuracy of Dr.
Tate’s description and drawing, to look for marks in other parts of
the structure, and to obtain as much information on the subject as
possible. I was therefore glad of the opportunity which an at-
tendance at the Salisbury Sessions in April 1862, gave me, of
visiting Stonehenge by the way. On examination, I found that
the markings did not exactly correspond with Dr. Tate’s drawing ;
in which the peculiar sickle-shaped device was combined with
what I at once saw were two Roman capital letters into a single
figure. Theletters, however, were found to be quite separate from
the other part of the mark. The Roman V was very distinct, and
the L only somewhat Jess so. The device and characters were
comparatively sharply cut, and well covered with time-stains

Fig. 4,—Incised Marking on the Impost of the Great Trilithon at Stonehenge.
From a rubbing by Dr. Thurnam, July, 1862.
(One fifth the actual size.)

nd lichens. There were no markings of any kind in the

274 Incised Marking on the Impost

corresponding position, on the under surface of the impost of the
adjoining trilith which fell in 1797. My conclusion on the whole
matter was that the marks “had been made in modern times, since
the fall of the stone.” I further expressed the opinion that “the
whole was the work of some casual visitor to the spot, who however
(from the hardness of the sarsen stone) must have spent considerable
time in the operation.” } |

The suggestion of the modern character of the marking was not

received with much favour, and in the number of the Archzxological
Journal in which these observations were published, it was remarked,
“Tt is scarcely needful to point out how strong an argument in
favor of the more remote antiquity of the markings may, as we
apprehend, be drawn not less from their having become so thickly
encrusted with lichen as to have escaped the notice of many keen
observers, but also from the improbability that characters could
have been thus carefully incised on so hard a material by any
‘casual visitor.’ ”
On the occasion of the visit of the British Association to Stone-
henge, in September 1864, the Rev. H. M. Scarth drew the atten-
tion of the meeting to these marks, and expressed himself altogether
in favour of their remote antiquity, in terms similar to those pre-
viously employed in the Archeological Journal.

Somewhat less than a year ago, I received a letter from the
Rev. Canon Jackson, F.S.A., drawing my attention to certain
lapidary inscriptions found at Carthage in peculiar characters
hitherto undeciphered, but called Lybian or Berber, which were
collected by M. De Falbe, and are published in the thirtieth vol.
of the Archeologia,? In one of these inscriptions, as Mr. Jackson

1Arch, Journ. vol. xix, p. 79. The opinion that the markings were made,
‘possibly soon after the fall of the stone,” about 1620, is the only one not
verified by the evidence subsequently obtained. The woodcut in the text
(Fig. 4), being reduced from my careful rubbing from the stone, is in some par-
ticulars, more exact than that given by me in the Archeological Journal. For
the two woodcuts (Figs. 2, 3,) 1am indepted to the Council of the Archeological
Tastitute.

2 Arch, vol. xxx, p. 112. Other inscriptions from the same necropolis at
Makther are in the proper Pheenician characters.

of the Great Trilithon, at Stonehenge. 275

pointed out to me, are “ the capital letters V L, with sundry unin-
telligible devices. There may be nothing in it, but it is odd that
VL should be on the trilithon very much like these in shape.”
Hére was curious matter for speculation; and it became a question
whether those who since tke time of Aylett Sammes! have very
improbably maintained the Phoenician origin of Stonehenge, might
not find a fresh argument in favour of their views, in the similarity
of the characters on the impost, and those on the monuments found
at Carthage. I was hence glad of the opportunity presented by
the meeting at Stonehenge, to request the opinion of any learned
persons who might be present, as to these characters. Professor
Rawlinson favoured us with some observations, denying, as was to
have been expected. their claim to be anything else than Roman.
He expressed no decided opinion as to their ancient or modern
date; and said he should at least not think it necessary to conclude
that Stonehenge was erected in times subsequent to the Roman
invasion. As to the emblem,—a sort of double sickle—he said
that the sickle was a not uncommon symbol in ancient times. A
single sickle was the emblem of the Italian town Arpi; and three
sickles conjoined formed the triquetra, which was the national
emblem of the Lycians in Asia Minor. This symbol might have
_ been a sacred character in the British religious system; and some
} Roman coming to the spot, might have added his own initials.
_ Mr. O'Callaghan suggested that a Roman soldier from Italy might
__ have added the letters L V, signifying Legio Victriz, the honorary
designation of his legion. But after all, he said, some Irish reaper
may have cut the figure of his own sickle, and added the initial
letters of his name (say Larry Varity,) to record a visit made not
many years ago.”
_ Had the conclusion as to the antiquity of these incised marks
__ being well-founded, it would have been an object of much importance
1“ Britannia Antiqua, The Antiquities of Britain, Derived from the Phe-
7 nicians,” 1676, Stonehenge, p. 395—402.

2This report of the discussion on the incised marks, has been compiled from
_ several reports; viz. those in the Wilts County Mirror, Sept. 28, 1864; Bath
DP Ghrosicle Report of the Meeting of the British Association at Bath, 8yo, p. 271;
Reader, Oct. 8, 15, 22, 1864 ; and from my own MS, notes.

276 Incised Marking on the Impost 7

that they should have been religiously preserved. It seems
however that in no long time after attention had been called to
them, they became the object of wanton mischief from visitors.
It might have been two years or more since I had previously seen
them; but at the time of the meeting in September, not only had
the lichens been scratched off the markings, but their edges and
surfaces had been hacked and hewn with a knife or chisel, so that
the aspect of age such as they had possessed was quite lost, and a
completely different character given to them. Hence it was not
surprising that there was much division of opinion as to their age,
and that the majority of those present on this occasion appeared
in favor of their modern date. All doubt on this head was soon
to be dispelled.

In the following week, a letter dated Amesbury, September 28th,
appeared in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, with the offer
of evidence as to the modern character of the markings. This was
written by a resident in this small town, which is distant about two
miles from Stonehenge. All real antiquaries must feel indebted
to Mr. W. C. Kemm, for his exertions in successfully dispelling a
notion, which as he expressed it, was “ more likely to mislead than
to throw any light on the origin of Stonehenge.” Mr. Kemm
subsequently informed me, that in consequence of the discussion
which had taken place, he had been induced to make inquiries
of his neighbours respecting the markings on the stone. The first
person who could give him any information he says was Mr. John
Zillwood, who is the schoolmaster of the place, a respected and in-
telligent person, 64 years old, well acquainted with Stonehenge
from his boyhood. He says he distinctly remembers the time
when he first saw the marks in question, when they were evidently
fresh and newly made. His impression, when first spoken to, was
that this happened about 45 years ago, in or about 1819. It was
soon found that there was other evidence, in addition to that of the
schoolmaster. John Pike, a shepherd, aged 62, whose early life
was passed on the very farm of West Amesbury on which Stone-
henge is situated, on being applied to, stated that he well remem-

bers, about the time named by Mr. Zillwood, seeing two men, as he ~

of the Great Trilithon at Stonehenge. 277

approached it, walk away from Stonehenge, where, when he arrived,
he for the first time saw the marks, newly cut, as he believed, by
the very men who had just left the spot. This evidence, circum-
stantial though it be, appeared conclusive enough.
Direct testimony was however soon after obtained in the person
of an eye-witness of the proceeding. Joseph Spreadbury, a hedger
and ditcher on the same farm, of the age of about 45 years,
remembers as a little boy being at Stonehenge, having been sent
there with his father’s breakfast or dinner, and actually seeing
_ these marks cut in the stone, by a man who appeared to bea
_ mechanic; he having a hand-basket with him, from which he took
the chisels with which he cut the marks; soon after doing which
he walked off in the direction of Salisbury. He does not remem-
__ ber there being another man with him, but says he may have been
: joined by a companion soon after leaving the stones. Spreadbury’s
evidence shows that the marks were cut some years later
| than supposed by Mr. Zillwood the sehoolmaster, and by Pike
_ the shepherd, and probably not earlier than the year 1827 or
1828.
_ Such is all the history which can now be obtained of the markings
by which the curious and the learned were in danger of being led
astray. What can have been the motives which could have induced
- any man to take the labour of cutting a complex mark of this
_ kind on so hard a stone as silicious-grit, cannot easily be deter-
mined. It may have been only that common but reprehensible
vanity, which every day leads people to deface monuments of all
_ sorts, by leaving on them a record of their visit... Whether, in
_ this instance, there was any more deep laid scheme to mislead
and deceive, can only be conjectured. 3

Every reader of the novels of Scott can hardly fail to have been
reminded by my narrative, of the stone which Monkbarns dug up ;
and on which he found, as he thought, “the figure of a sacrificing
vessel and the letters A. D. L. L.,” which he translated Agricola
Dicavit Libens Lubens. Who does not remember the passage where
Edie Ochiltree bursting rudely on the Antiquary, undeccived him

278 Wiltshire Fresh-water and Terrestrial Shells.

with the assurance, not only of “ Preetorian here, Praetorian there,
I mind the bigging o’t ;”’—but also, that “ane o’ the Mason-lads
that built the lang dyke, at auld Aiken Drums bridal, about
twenty years syne, cut a ladle on the stane, and put four letters
on’t, that’s A. D. L. L.—Aiken Drum’s Long Ladle—for Aiken
was ane o’ the Kale-suppers o’ Fife.”

LIST OF

CHiltshive Hresh-twater and Cerrestrial Shells.

By the Rey. J. E. Vizz.

(RSQHE following list of Wiltshire Fresh-water and Terrestrial
Shells has been carefully drawn up by the Rev. J. E. Vize.
But for an accident it would have accompanied his paper on the
subject, in No. 25, vol. ix. of the Magazine. Compared with the
lists of Maton and others, it will be found that much progress has
been made of late years in this branch of Natural History.

List or WixrtsHirE SHELLS.

Crass I. CEPHALA.
FAMILY. LIMACINEA.

Arion ater, (Ltster.) Ditches between Hilperton and Steeple-Ashton, and
elsewhere about Trowbridge, Salisbury.

A. hortensis, (Férussac.) Salisbury.

Limax agrestis, (Zinneus) very numerous in gardens in damp weather about
Trowbridge, Salisbury.

L. cinereus, (Lister, L. maximus in Gray) common at Salisbury.

Testacella haliotidea, (Drap.) Specimens frequent at Devizes, and doubtless
distributed generally in the county on suitable soils, and to be found in fayour-
able weather. Trowbridge supplied me with specimens.

FAMILY. COLIMACEA.
Vitrina pellucida, (Gertner) Warminster, Old-Sarum, Ashcombe Wood, —
Salisbury, banks and woods Devizes.
Succinea putris, (Fleming.) Corsham, Canal Banks on weeds, stones, &c.,
at the waters edge and just above it; by the sides of a rivulet in fields.
between Trowbridge and Steeple-Ashton, near the reservoir ef the Canal at
Devizes, Salisbury.
8. elegans. (Risso.) Devizes, Salisbury.

By the Rev. J. E. Vize. 279

Zonites cellarius, (Moguin-Tandon) Corsham, Trowbridge, woods at
Salisbury and Ashcombe, Devizes.
Z. alliaria (Gray) Trowbridge, under chalk stones at Warminster,
Salisbury, Devizes.
Z. nitidulus, (Blog. Tandon) Corsham, North-Bradley, Trowbridge, War-
minster, Salisbury.
Z. radiatulus, (Gray) between Box and Corsham, Salisbury, Devizes.
Z. nitidus, (Mog.-Tandon, Z. lucidus in Gray) Corsham, Salisbury.
Z. erystallinus, (Gray) Hilperton, Salisbury, Devizes.
Helix aspersa, (Miller) abundant everywhere, as the dead shells prove in
winter.
H. Pomatia (Linneus) rare at Salisbury, woods near Chilton and Ramsbury.
H. arbustorum (Zinn.) Hilperton, Bradford on Avon, Alderbury, Salisbury,
Devizes, Roundway.
H. nemoralis, (Zinn.) Corsham, North-Bradley, Westwood and Freshford;
Salisbury, Devizes.
H. Cantiana, (Montagu) rare near Weyhill, near Hungerford, and borders
of Wilts.
H. virgata, (Pulteney) Corsham, Salisbury, North Bradley, on banks between
_ Trowbridge and Bradley, Upton Scudamore, Westwood and Freshford, Devizes.
H. fasciolate, (Poiret., H. caperata, Montagu) Corsham, Bradford-on-
Ayon, Upton-Scudamore, Warminster, Devizes, Salisbury.
H. Ericetorum, (Miller) Upton Scudamore, Salisbury, Devizes, and gener-
ally on the downs through the county.
H. lapicida, (Linneus) Corsham, Salisbury, Roundway Hill, Devizes.
H. rufescens, (Pennant) very abundant everywhere.
H. hispida, (Zinneus) Trowbridge, Hilperton, Freshford, Salisbury,
Devizes.
H, sericea, (Drap.) Salisbury, near Hungerford.
H. fusca, (Montagu) Trowbridge.
_ H. fulva, (Muller) Stratford-sub-Castle, Salisbury, Devizes and neigh-
bourhood.
iH. aculeata (Muller) rare at Durnford, Moist meadows, amongst mossy
stones at Devizes.
H. pulchella, (Muller.) between Trowbridge and Studley, Salisbury,
_ Devizes ; I found a shell of the ribbed variety at Hilperton Marsh.
4H. rotundata, (Muller.) Corsham, North-Bradley, Hilperton, under chalk
stones at Warminster, Salisbury.
H. rupestris, (Studer.) walls near Corsham, very abundant between Fresh-
ford and Westwood, Salisbury, Clarendon, Bath Road, Devizes; near Atworth.
4H. pygmea, (Drap.) rare Salisbury. Probably much unnoticed because
of its smallness.
cS - Bulimus montanus, (Drap., B. Lackhamensis in Gray.) Ashcombe Wood
F near Tollard-Royal, Durnford, Roundway Hill, Devizes,
_ B. obscurus (I.- Tandon) Corsham and neighbourhood, North-Bradley,
isbury, Old-Sarum, Ashcombe, Roundway Hill, Devizes.
Zua subcylindrica (Reeve, Z. lubrica Gray), Corsham, Trowbridge,
. _ Balun, Devizes.

280 Wiltshire Fresh-water and Terrestrial Shells.

Azeea tridens, (Leach,) Rare at Clarendon Wood.

Achatina acicula, (Zamarck.) in decaying bulbs of tulips at Salisbury. The
dead shell is frequent at Salisbury.

Clausilia laminata, (Turton, C. bidens Gray) Clarendon, Ashcombe, Devizes.

C. biplicata, (Pfeiffer) Roundway, Durnford.

C. perversa, (Bog.-Tandon, C. nigricans Gray) Corsham, Maiden-Bradley,
Warminster, Devizes.

Balea perversa, (Fleming) Ashcombe, Salisbury, Devizes.

Pupa secale, (Mog.- Tandon) Ashcombe, Durnford, Devizes,

P. muscorum, (Mog.-Tandon) Salisbury.

P. cylindracea, (Mog.- Tandon, P. umbillicatus Gray) Salisbury, Devizes.

Vertigo antivertigo, (Michaud) Stratford-sub-Castle,

V. pygmea (Férrussac.) Banks of Kennet and Avon Canal at Trowbridge.

V. striata (Reeve, V. substriata Gray) Roundway Hill, Devizes.

V. edentula (Studer) Corsham.

FAMILY. AURICULACEA.
Carychium minimum, (Muller) roots of grass at Roundway, Salisbury.

FAMILY. LYMN/ZACEA.

Planorbis corneus, (Poret.) rare at Salisbury, and probably imported, says
Dr. Blackmore.

P. albus, (Muller) Canal at Trowbridge and Devizes, on cases of Caddis
worms, Salisbury.

P. crista, (Reeve, P. nautileus of Fleming and Gray,) ponds near Lavington |
and Devizes, Salisbury.

P. carinatus, (Muller) in Kennet & Avon Canal, on weeds at Trowbridge,
Salisbury.

P. complanatus, (Studer, P. marginatus in Gray and Draparnaud) in a ditch
between Trowbridge and Studley, Salisbury, Canal at Devizes.

P. vortex, (Muller) very abundant near Corsham and Trowbridge, North- ©
Bradley, Canal at Devizes.

P. spirorbis, (MZuller) Kennet & Avon Canal, Stratford-sub-Castle, Salisbury,
Steeple-Ashton.

P. contortus, (Iuller) Canal at Devizes, Salisbury.

P. fontanus, (Fleming, P. nitidus in Gray) Devizes and Salisbury.

P. nitidus, (Muller, Segmentina nitida of Fleming and Gray) one shell found
after many searches near the Canal bridge on the Trowbridge and Bradford
Road, Canal at Devizes.

Physa fontinalis, (Draparnaud) abundant in the Canal at Trowbridge,
splendidly fine on the Trowbridge and Bradford road, Drews Pond marked
Salisbury.

P. hypnorum, (Draparnaud, Aplexa hypnorum of Fleming and G'ray,)
large size at Corsham, sparingly and small on the Hilperton and Steeple-Ashton
road, Trowbridge very abundant, Salisbury.

Lymnga limosa, (Fleming, Lym. pereger of Draparnaud and Gray) very

frequent in any likely places, and varying in size according to ciroumstances.

L, auricularia (Draparnaud) Trowbridge, Devizes, Salisbury.

By the Rev. J. E. Vise. 281

L, stagnalis, (De Montford) Trowbridge, Devizes, Salisbury.
L, palustris, (Draparnaud) North Bradley, Trowbridge, Salisbury, Devizes.
L, truncatula (Jeffreys) numerous in a ditch at Corsham, at the end of Lord
. Mothuen’s park, Salisbury, Devizes, Hungerford.
; L. glutinosa, (Draparnaud) Salisbury.
; Ancylus fluviatilis (fuller) Canal reservoirs at Devizes, Salisbury.

z A. lacustris (Muller, Velletia lacustris of Gray) ponds near Lavington, Salis-
ury.

ee ee

FAMILY CYCLOSTOMACEA.
Cyclostoma elegans (Draparnaud) Roundway Hill, Devizes, Salisbury
_ Aome lineata, (Hartmann, Acicula fusca in Gray) on roots of grass at Upayon.

FAMILY PERISTOMATA.

Bythinia tentaculata, (Gray) abundant in the Kennet & Avon Canal in winter
and summer, Salisbury, Devizes.
__B. Leachii, (Mog.-Zandon, B. ventricosa in Gray) Salisbury, Devizes.

Paludina vivipara, (Say.) so very abundant at certain seasons, that they can
be collected in great numbers from the Kennet & Avon Canal at Trowbridge,
Canal at Heybrook and Devizes, sa
_ Valvata piscinalis, (Férrussac) Trowbridge, Salisbury, Canal reservoirs
Devizes,

V. cristata, (Muller) Canal at Trowbridge, Salisbury.

FAMILY. NERITACEA,
_Neritina fluviatilis, (Zamarck) on stones in the Canal at Trowbridge, Salis-
bury.

—— ——- * sa <

FAMILY. MYTILACEA.
_ Dreissena polymorpha, (Van Beneden) very abundant at Trowbridge in the
Canal, Canal and reservoirs at Devizes.

fee FAMILY. NAIADES.
__ Anodonta cygnea, (Draparnaud) numerous in the Canal at Trowbridge, Canal
Devizes, the moat at Britford, Longleat.
- Unio tumidus, (Philippson) Canal at Devizes.
_ Unio pictorum, (Ditto) Heybrook, Canal and reservoirs at Devizes.

ek" FAMILY. CARDIACEA.

Pisidium amnicum, (Jenyns) Canal at Trowbridge, Milford near Salisbury,
Canal at Devizes.

_ P. obtusale, (Pfeiffer) Milford, Salisbury.

P. pusillum, (Jenyns) North Bradley, Harnham meadows, Salisbury.

P. Casertanum (Bourguignat, P, cinereum, Gray) North Bradley, and one or
two other localities near Trowbridge.

_ P. pulchellum, (Jenyns) Milford near Salisbury, Drew’s Pond, Devizes,

_ P. Henslowianum, (Jenyns) habitats same as preceding.

4 Cyclas rivicola (Leach) frequently to be found at certain seasons in canal
at Trowbridge, Milford near Salisbury, canal at Devizes.

282

Mord Clarendon and his Crofebridge Ancestry.

By the Rey. W, H. Jonzs, M.A., F.S,A.

S the Olarendon family for some centuries have held
property in the county of Wilts, it is but natural that we
should seek to gather up any reminiscences, even though they be
trifling, of that great man in whom they became first ennobled.
All the main incidents of Lord Clarendon’s varied life are of
course well known. ‘There is however one tradition connected with
his name, which, though possibly more or less founded in truth,
has never yet been fully interpreted. We do not profess as yet to
be able to explain it; but as we are able to prove that it is not among
Lord Clarendon’s Wiltshire connections that we must look for its
solution, it will be something to have narrowed the field of inquiry.
The tradition alluded to is the following. It is given from the
oldest account as yet found of it, viz., from the “ General Evening
Post” of March 29, 1787 :—

“ Curious historical fact.—During the troubles in the reign of
Charles I. a country girl came to London in search of a place as
a servant maid; but not succeeding she applied herself to carrying
out beer from a brewhouse, and was one of those called tub-women.
The brewer observing a well-looking girl in this low occupation,
took her into his family as a servant, and after a while married
her; but he died while she was yet a young woman and left her a
large fortune. The business of the brewery was dropped, and the
young woman was recommended to Mr. Hyde, as a gentleman of
skill in law, to settle her husband’s affairs. Hyde, who was after-
wards the great Earl of Clarendon, finding the widow’s fortune
very considerable, married her. Of this marriage there was no
other issue than a daughter, who was afterwards the wife of James
II. and mother of Mary and Anne, Queens of England.”

EXTRACTS Ga

: ig ‘
sit ’ in
$ bea Rs
‘Thomas Hyde =...... d. of...... Kinaston, b creeds ia
of Norbury, Esq. of Derbyshire. ‘
’ j ine
} a Mp =} 4
of ...... Holland (1 Robert Hyde = (2)...... d. of ......Boydell, a
t ee } ot Norbury. x 0 Pulcroft, co. Cheshire. “ : :
oe WaiiL.s:! : fe
ba — Hydes, of = 1 Mary we = eaeretis Hyde,=2 = Ann dau. of
Norbury. of Tisbury, _ | Robert Blount,
MEI HE Qoaseh 2G | d. 1590. Brass in| Wi of Eckington
E : Tisbury Church. | © co, Derby. ”
BA ced ay a oh Gl i 5 \

_ John Hyde.

Thomas Hyde —...... GET seer Kinaston,
of Norbury, Esq.

Margaret, d. of ...... Holland (1) =

Hydes, of
Norbury.

of Derbyshire.

Robert Hyde = (2
of Denton, co, Lancaster if of Norbury.

1 Mary .... = Pelee Hyde,=2 Ann 4d. of Nicholas Sibell,

EXTRACTS rrom tor PEDIGREES or HYDE ann LANGFORD.

Alexander Langford, =Sibilla ..... 9
of Trowbridge.

|
Edward Langford.
Cousin to William Horton of
Iford, and Henry Long of Trowbridge.)

|
Alexander Langford,
of Trowbridge,

Winecen d. of ...... Boydell,
of Pulecroft, co. Cheshire.

Edward Langford, = Mary [Hyde?] William Aylesbury,=Ann. dau. of Francis Denman,

of Tisbury, | of Farningham, co. Kent, of Trowbridge,|d. 1594, of London, John Poole, Rector of West Retford,
d. 1590. Brass in | widow of Matthew Colthurst, (speaks of his|loving brother-in-law of Saperton, co. Notts. d. 1599,
Tisbury Church. of Claverton, co. Somerset. Edward Hydejin his will.) co. Glouc,
; 5 asl
John Hyde. Henry Hyok (of Pirton, and Dinton) = Many Lancrorp. Sir Thomas Aylesbury, = Frances Denman,
3rd son. (b. 1570, Master of the Requests, d, and coh,

m. April 3rd, 1597, at died at Breda 1657,
‘Trowbridge, d. 1661.) wt. 81.

|
1 Ann d. of Sir George Ayliffe, = Epwarp Hypr, = 2 Frances Aylesbury,
d, 1629. (ord cisrenten) i (1632), b. 1617, d. 1670.

Henry, Tees
2nd Earl of Clarendon, Earl of Rochester.

acer Duke or York
| (afterwards James II.)

|
QurEEN Mary, QuEEN ANNE.

= Ann dau. of

Robert Blount,
of Eckington,
co, Derby.

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 283

This tradition, with divers headings, such as “Truth stranger
than fiction,” and, of course, with various readings, has been
re-produced again and again in newspapers and periodicals.
In one it is asserted that Charles II., on discovering the marriage
between his brother, the Duke of York, and Ann Hyde, sent for
the former, and after having “first plied him with sharp raillery,”
finished by saying, “ James as you have brewn, so you must drink,”
and forthwith commanded the marriage to be certified and pro-
mulgated. The expressions used are supposed to have referred to
the previous calling of the Duchess of York. No such tales are
related, however, in any authentic history. It is not in the
“Memoirs of Count Grammont” (a very likely book in which to
‘have found it, had it been true); neither is it in ‘“‘ Macpherson’s
Stuart Papers.” In fact, as far as can be ascertained, it has never
appeared in print, except in some periodical publication.
Miss Strickland nevertheless gives us a proof! that the tradition
has not been confined to mere newspaper gossip, but has been
_ repeated by those who might be supposed to be well informed on
the subject. In fact, she traces the story to no less a person than
the Cardinal York, the last of the direct male descendants of
James II., who died as recently as the commencement of the
present century. The Cardinal York, it is said, narrated the tale
to Cardinal Gonsalvi, and by the latter, it was repeated to the
_ Marchese de Solari, from whose lips (as I understand her words)

Miss Strickland herself heard it. It was told too with this
; _ explanation, that Queen Anne’s grandmother was not a washer-
_ woman, or blanchisseuse, but a tub-girl, one who not only assisted

_ in brewing beer (an employment in earlier times of women rather

than men), but in selling the ale and yeast from the tubs to the
_ customers. This distinction coming as it did from one like
Cardinal York, born and bred in Italy, gives some little colour to
the possible authenticity of the story.
__ The question arises, ‘‘ How far is this tradition true”? I own
of that I am not inclined to dismiss it asa mere fiction, or as “a
legend invented for the purpose of exhibiting a contrast between
1 Lives of the Queens of England. (Queen Anne.)
vo. 1X.—NO. XXVIL ¥

a ted

284 Lord Clarendon and his Trowbridge Ancestry.

the exalted rank of the descendants and the plebeian origin of the
ancestors.” At all events it docs seem too well authenticated
for such summary dismissal. There is possibly some truth in
the tale, though, like all others, it may have lost nothing in the
telling. No doubt we reason very often on the embellishments
of successive generations of wonderful story-tellers rather than
on the main facts of the case, and the “crescit ewndo”’ is a bar
to the discovery of the truth itself.

Literally true, of course, it is not. A simple anachronism meets
us at the outset. In his life, Lord Clarendon gives us an account
of both his marriages,—the former in 1628 to Ann, daughter of
Sir George Ayliffe, who died six months afterwards,—the latter in
1632, to Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, one of the
Masters of Requests. It will be observed that both marriages took —
place some time before the civil wars broke out, and the brides
were spinsters, and not widows. Moreover, the statement that the
only issue of the last marriage was a daughter, who in due time
became the wife of James, Duke of York, is altogether incorrect,
inasmuch as we know that, by his wife Frances Aylesbury, Lord
Clarendon had no less than four sons and two daughters.

Admitting, however, that the details of the tradition cannot be
true, is there any foundation for the implication contained in it
that Frances Aylesbury, the grandmother of the Queens, Mary and
' Anne, was>originally of an inferior station in life? People in
general seem to have made up their minds that it could not have
been the case, inasmuch as her father was a well-known man—edu-
cated at Westminster—in due time student of Christ Church—then
Secretary to two noblemen, each of whom filled the office of
Lord High Admiral,—by the favor of one of them raised to the
dignity of a Baronet, having previously held the posts of Master
of the Mint and Master of the Requests.! Certainly it seems most
unlikely that it could be true of the daughter of such a man, married
as she was to Edward Hyde whilst her father was holding honour-
able and lucrative offices, and herself (if the date of her baptism be
presumed to be that of her infancy), some years under the age of

1 See Chalmers’ Biographical Dictionary under “ Aylesbury.”

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 285

twenty one. Still one cannot but remark a difference in the way
in which Lord Clarendon in his life speaks of his two marriages
respectively. Whilst of his second wife he says simply that she
was the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bart., Master of
Requests to the King, he speaks of the first, as “‘ Ann, daughter of
Sir George Ayliffe, of good name and fortune in Wilts, and by her
mother (a St. John) nearly allied to many noble families.”
Assuming that the tradition cannot be true of Frances Aylesbury,
we may ask whether it is possible that the story has been placed
one generation too low, referring in fact not to the wife of Lord
Clarendon, but to his mother, or possibly his wife’s mother? An
impression in some quarters (why I can hardly say) has gained
‘ground that the “blank pane” or “shield ” in the genealogy of the
Hydes, is to be sought for among their Trowbridge connexions,—
in short in the family of Langford. How little such an idea can
be borne out I shall soon be able to show you.
_ Among the earliest names in the Parochial Registry at Trow-
bridge (a portion of which commence in 1538) we find those of
members of the Langford family. In the year 1544 we find,
from a MS. in the possession of Mr. Poullet Scrope, Alexander
_ Langford, senior, and Alexander Langford, junior, both described
as “‘ gentlemen,” of Trowbridge, purchasing two water-mills, called
the Castle Mills, from George Worth of Dauntesy, and others.
And in the will of Edward Langford, who died in-1552, and is
called a “‘clothier,”? mention is made of fis cousins Wm. Horton,
of Iford, and Harrie Long, of Trowbridge, a tolerable proof of
the respectable connexions of his family. In truth, they were,
like many of the younger sons of the leading families of that
century, engaged in the clothing trade, their ancestors in the
preceding century having been probably merchants of the staple.
One member of the family, by name Alexander, seems to have
been an attorney at Bradford. We find an “ Alexander Langford”
also rated, in a subsidy roll of 1565, amongst the Wilts gentry, at
£22—a considerable sum in the sixteenth century.
_ Why their pedigree is not recorded in any of the Heralds’
Visitations I cannot tell. We meet with the names of all the
cr x¥2

286 Lord Clarendon and his Trowbridge Ancestry.

families with which we know them to have intermarried, or to
have been intimately connected; thus, for example, of Bailey of
Trowbridge, Mitchell of Calston, Horton of Iford, Long of
Trowbridge, Hyde of Marlborough, Wallis of Trowbridge.

Coming now to the next generation, we have an Edward
Langford, of Trowbridge, who is described as a gentleman and
clothier, speaking in his will, proved in 1594, of his “loving
brother-in-law, Edward Hyde.” Who his wife was—(her
christian name was Mary)—I have not been able to discover, nor
whose son was the “ Edward Hyde” alluded to. He was con-
temporary with Laurence Hyde, who, about the middle of the
16th century, purchased the manor of West Hatch, and a brass
to whose memory is in Tisbury Church, and may have been his
brother, both of them being the sons of Robert Hyde, of
Norbury in the county of Chester, whence their family sprung.
About the same time there was certainly living “ John Langford,”
at Charlton, in the hundred of Downton. The fact, however,
of an alliance with the Hydes at so early a date (two gener-
ations before Lord Clarendon was born) shows the good position
that the Langford family held at that time in Wiltshire. Amongst
friends named in the will of this Edward Langford, who died in
1594, are Sir William Eyre and Sir Walter Hungerford. The
witnesses to the will were Thomas Wallis and John Long, both of
them among the Trowbridge gentry.

The daughter of this last named Edward Langford, by name
Mary, who was baptized at Trowbridge in 1578, was married in
that same Church, on April 3rd, 1597, to Henry Hyde, described
as of Purton and Dinton; and their third son, Edward, became
ultimately Lord Chancellor Clarendon. In his life, Lord Clarendon
gives us some particulars of the early days and marriage of his
father. He was the third son of Laurence Hyde of West Hatch. He
was educated at Oxford, and afterwards admitted asa member of the
Middle Temple. He travelled much, especially in Italy, then a
dangerous place on account of the animosity felt by the Pope,
Sixtus V., towards Queen Elizabeth and all her subjects. He
nevertheless received so much attention when at Rome from Car-

;

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 287

dinal Allen that many English Priests murmured loudly that “my
Lord Cardinal was much to blame.’”’ When he was in the 30th year
of his age, “on his mother’s persuasion and offer to make provision
for him,” he married “Mary, one of the descendants of Edward
Langford, of Trowbridge, esquire, by whom in present and after
her mother he had a good fortune, in the account of that age.”
The entry in the Trowbridge Register corresponds exactly with this
statement. It runs thus:—‘The year, 1597, Aprill, Mr. Henry
Hide and Mistris Marie Langeforde was married the 3rd daie.”
They lived at Dinton, in a house, it is supposed now pulled down,
and there their son Edward was baptized, in March, 1608.

I need hardly say that in all this there is not the slightest war-
rant for thinking that the fair tub-woman, or vintner’s widow, can
be found among the Trowbridge connexions of Lord Clarendon.
A few passing observations in his life concerning the habits of his
parents effectually preclude the possibility of the tale in any sense
being true of them. They lived at Dinton, where no less than
nine children were born to them, They afterwards, it appears,
lived at Purton. His father’s duties as a Burgess in Parliament
required him at times to go to London, but he always went alone.

_ His mother, “though married for more than 40 years, was never in
; London in her life.” In his will Henry Hyde speaks of the “ great
house at Trowbridge, and lands and tenements in Studley, Hil-
__ perton, and elsewhere, which he had by Mary his wife.”

_ But another fact that we may notice, as testifying to the good
standing and soeial position of the Trowbridge connexions of Lord
Clarendon, is the custom that he seems to have introduced, and
which was followed by his family, of invariably quartering the arms
of Langford (and these only), with those of Hyde.! There were
other coats which they might have borne in their shield, but
we never find them using them. The coat of Hyde, quarterly
with Langford, is to be seen in an. old copy of the folio
“History of Rebellion.” They are to be seen also carved in
_ wood by Grinlin Gibbons, on the pediment of the Corinthian
altar-piece in the chapel at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire. In

_ In Sandtord’s Genealogies under “ Edward, Earl of Clarendon,” there is a
_ plate in which we have Hyde quartering Langford?

288 Lord Clarendon and his Trowbridge Ancestry.

the garter-plate of Laurence (Earl of Rochester) son of Lord
Clarendon, you may also see this coat of Langford quarterly with
Hyde allowed by competent authority. Surely this almost osten-
tatious parading of the arms of Langford would imply that they
themselves considered that the Wiltshire marriages were no dimi-
nution from the honour, as certainly they were none from the
pecuniary means, of the family of Hyde.

T hope I may take it for granted that it is thus proved that we must
look elsewhere than in Trowbridge for an interpretation of this
tradition.

It is hardly a part of our task to pursue the enquiry further.
A statement however, was made in Notes and Queries,| some
time ago, that the tale had been told of the mother of Lady
Clarendon, the wife in fact of Sir Thomas Aylesbury. Her
name was Frances Denman, and she was the daughter of
Francis Denman, of East Retford county Notts, by Ann Blount,
of Eckington county Derby, relict of Nicholas Towers. I have
been able to learn but little, indeed almost nothing, concerning
her. The Denmans, of West Retford, and the Blounts, of
Eckington, were both families of great repute, but this proves little.*
A chance observation nevertheless in Pepys’ diary has certainly
impressed me with the idea that possibly, after all, Sir Thomas
Aylesbury may have been the young lawyer, and his wife the
original tub-woman. Under date 13th November, 1661, Pepys
says:—“The Duke of York is in mourning for his wife’s grand-
mother (i.e. Lady.Aylesbury), which is thought a great piece of
fondness.” The expression is certainly strong, if it imply no more
than that if was an unnecessary compliment from a prince of the
blood towards one who was his inferior in rank and station.®

On the whole I am inclined to think that the tale has arisen
from the too probable fact, that during the troubles of Lord
Clarendon, and also of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, (for he, on account
of his loyalty, was deprived of his places and estates) some of

1 Notes and Queries, vii., 634, (New Series.)
* See Gentleman’s isan March, 1851, p. 283.

5See also Pepys’ Diary, 7th October, 1660, and also 24th October, 1660, on
Ann Hyde’s marriage.

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 289

those belonging to them may have been compelled to submit not
only to great privations, but even to fill menial offices. Lord
Clarendon, we know, at times endured much distress. ‘ We are
all,” he writes from Brussels, “without a dollar, and have been
long, and they who have neither money nor credit are likely to
keep a cold Christmas.”’ He adds that his wife, in the immediate
expectation of becoming a mother, was in want of common neces-
saries. Sir Thomas Aylesbury, driven from his home, sold his
library to relieve his distresses, and died in want and obscurity at
Breda. His son William, after struggling long with difficulties,
in 1657, when Cromwell fitted out a fleet to go on an expedition
to the West Indies to carry a supply to the Island of Jamaica,
from pure necessity engaged himself to the governor, and died in
the island soon afterwards. What more probable, than that, under
the pressure of such exigencies, some one, perhaps more of the
female members of their families may have been forced to sub-
mit to humiliating employment for the purpose of obtaining
means of subsistence. And Jacobite spleen might soon, from such
a fact, contrive a tale, the object of which would be to throw a blot
on their escutcheon. Such a tale would find too many among the
exiled Court at St. Germain’s willing to believe it; and Mary of
Modena, smarting under the indignity formerly offered to her in the
doubts thrown on the legitimacy of her own son, by the absurd
yet too readily believed story of a strange child being conveyed to
the Queen’s chamber in a warming-pan, and passed off as the real
Prince of Wales, would draw from it no pleasing contrast between
the supposed low condition of some of the immediate ancestors of
Mary and Ann, daughters of Ann Hyde, and her own proud line
of descent. And Italian jealousy and pride would add no little
fuel to the flame kindled with such materials and under such
cireumstances.

We might indeed find motives enough, in the feeling entertained
against Lord Clarendon in his own country, for the ready credence
of any story that might tarnish the fame of the great Chancellor.
He had many enemies in England. The exalted position to which
his daughter was raised when she became the wife of James, Duke

290 Lord Clarendon and his Trowbridge Ancestry.

of York, was a source of danger no less than of aggrandisement to
himself. Raised on high, he became the mark at which were hurled
a thousand envenomed shafts. You cannot read his life without at
once seeing how persevering and busy were malice and envy in dis-
torting his words and actions, and assigning to them some unworthy
or interested motive. And when, yielding to the storm of popular
discontent, King Charles II. withdrew his protecting shield from
the Chancellor, then was lost for ever that power which his
very relationship to the Court prevented him from grasping
so firmly or independently as others. Then his great honours
became only as heavy chains or gilded fetters, rendering him
powerless to contend against the machinations of his many and
malicious enemies.

“ What murdered Wentworth, and what exiled Hyde,
By Kings protected and to Kings allied ;
What but their wish indulged in courts to shine,
And power too great to keep or to resign ?”

291

On the Materials of Roman Queens.

By J. Buckman, F.L.S., F.G.8., F.S.A., &e.,
Professor of Geology and Botany.

rau object of the present notice is to show from geological

sd I evidence, that during the Roman occupation of Britain,
communication was not only kept up with different parts of our
country, but that foreign countries were also made to supply some of
their natural stores to augment the convenience or luxuries of the
Romans, or Romano-British inhabitants of our island.

In illustration of this, I propose to make a few observations on
the domestic implements called querns. These were circular hard
millstones for grinding corn, and when stones suitable for this
purpose were not to be found on the spot, they had to be obtained
from various distances, according to circumstances.

The primary requisite in a millstone is, that it should be made
up of hard cutting particles, so that silicious stones would naturally
be chosen; but as these are very variable in hardness, they were

_ doubtless selected according to the purposes for which they were
required.
Now although silicious rocks abound in different parts of the
world, only certain portions of even sandstone rocks are available
for millstones, and hence our native stones of this kind occur only
in certain localities, and these often widely apart. Some notion of
this may be gained from the following table of rocks, which have
yielded us examples of home-made querns or molars.

List of rocks from which English querns have been made, in
descending order :—

1. Sarsen-stone. Tertiary Sandstone.

2. Hons-stonz. From the Uppper-green-sand.
_ 8. Rep anp Grey Sronzs. From the New-red-sandstone.

4. Gritstones. From the Coal-measures.

_ 5. Miuistonz-Grir. From the Carboniferous system.

292 On the Materials of Roman Querns.

6. Puppine-stonzs. From the Conglomerates of the Old-red-~
sandstone. .

7. Rep anp Grey Sronzs. From the Old-red-sandstones.

8. SanpstonE. From Primary rocks.

From these sources they were distributed throughout the
country, and as they were articles of general use, the traffic in
them must have been considerable.

1. Sarsen-stone QueERrns. The stone from which these were
made is an exceeding hard sandstone, of which the “ grey-wethers ”
and the huge blocks of the Avebury Circles are examples. This
rock though found bouldered into Gloucestershire, northwards, is
yet a peculiar feature in the geology of Wiltshire, and one well
worthy of greater attention from the geologist than it has yet
received.

I have only found one example of a quern made of this stone ;'
it was found on the farm of the Agricultural College at Ciren-
cester, having been turned up by the plough in an arable field, in
which I had previously observed evidence of Roman occupation,
besides finding the remains of a Roman Villa in another field on
the same farm. Both sites are a little removed from the Acman
Street, about one-and-a-half miles from Corinium.

2. Hons-stone. The Upper-green-sandstone is a hard, sharp,
gritstone, much used even in the present day for scythe rubbers,
and rough hones.

My friend Mr. Cunnington tells me that he has obtained several
querns made from this rock, and I fancy that I detected some two
or three among the remains of Wroxeter; but as far as I know,
Corinium has not yielded a single example of this kind. This is
rather curious, considering its proximity to Wiltshire, where the
Upper-green-sand abounds. Still the principal supply of querns
would appear to have been brought to Coriniwm from the west side
of the Severn, for other products as iron ore, for smelting with
the wood of the Cotteswold, red oxide of iron for coloring, and
probably zinc and pottery were brought from the Forest-of-Dean.

8, 4, and 5. THz Sanpstone AND GritstonE QuERNs from these

1 This specimen is now in the possession of Mr, Cunnington, Devizes.

By J. Buckman, Esq. 293

rocks, are scattered more or less about all Romano-British settle-
ments. They vary much in size and finish ; a remark indeed,
which pertains to querns of all kinds.

6. Tue Pupprna-sronz Querns are made from a conglomerate
rock, which gets its common name from the circumstance of its
finer silicious particles seeming to act as a paste to include rounded
portions of a whitish or reddish quartzose rock—these rounded
bits, varying up to the size of walnuts, being the plums of the
mass. The rock is well seen im situ on the west bank of the
Severn, and underlying the mountain limestone in the neighbour-
hood of Symonds-Yat, on the Wye. By far the greater number
of the British-made querns at Wroxeter, were of this material, as
I observed only a few weeks since.

In going over a friend’s estate in the parish of Saint Briavell
a part of the Forest of Dean district, I had the good fortune to
find several roughly hewn discoid stones of the Old-red-sandstone
conglomerate. These stones approached the shape of the finished
querns of the same material, of which I have obtained no fewer
than nine at Corinium. The diameter of these roughly hewn
discs was usually about 20 inches, whilst that of all my finished
examples is about 15 inches.

From these facts then, I conclude that the rough discs were the
initiatives—the first stage in the preparation of the quern, and

_ that they were probably rough hewn, as the stones were chosen from
| the rock as it crops out at the surface, just as I have seen stones for
various purposes hewn into different shapes on the Granite Torrs
of Cornwall, ready to be transported elsewhere for a higher finish.

In reference to this subject it may be well to state that Mr.
Cunnington reports “an unfinished quern from Pen-pits—Upper-
green-sand—very rude—no hole in it—diameter 20 inches.”

I conclude that this is an example, like those just mentioned, of
@ quern in an early stage of manufacture, and it is therefore not
improbable that the Pen quarry district may yield more upon an
_ attentive examination.
In the case of the conglomerate specimens, it may be noted that
= they were found over a wide area, and as might be expected had

|
;

294 On the Materials of Roman Querns.

puzzled the natives not a little, for which reason they “ took no
account on ’em.” ° .

7. Tue SANDSTONES OF THE OLD-RED, are, like those of the New-
red, simply composed of fine grains of Sand cemented together.
They are not hard enough for long endurance, and therefore the
paucity of querns from the Old and New-red systems, though these
strata are so largely developed, is readily accounted for.

8. Tue HARDER Siticious Sronzs from the older rocks have often
been used for querns. The Society’s collection contains one of these
of a very interesting form.

These will be sufficient to illustrate the facts with which I started,
and to show how far many of these stones must have spread over
England: but it is also true of the Roman period as it is of the
present day, that foreign rocks were called upon to furnish this
country both with hone-stones and querns. Of the latter, all the
important Romans stations that I have examined furnish numerous
examples. I have at Cirencester no fewer than five specimens
of querrs composed of a hard dark-coloured Volcanic grit, and I
saw many of the same kind at Wroxeter. These are from
Andernach on the Rhine. Their general size is about 15 inches,
they are usually made with great precision, and are very finely
scored. There is no doubt that the hardness of the stone, together
with the toughness of its texture, made this volcanic grit very
superior for querns, and we may hence infer that though commu-
nication both by sea and land was more difficult than at present,
yet on the whole it paid to import these querns, for in no
other way can we account for their very general spread over our
country.

These hasty remarks have been penned as the result of an
examination of the materials of querns. Were we however to
extend our remarks to other stone relics, as mortaria, altars,
marbles, &c., we should find that Geology is no mean assistant to
Archeology, and in fact, that they are more nearly united than
would at first sight appear.

”

295

Metter from Grose the Antiquary.

rue following letter from Francis Grose, the antiquary, to
bys Mr. Foster, Bond’s Court, Walbrook, London, ‘contains
some references to Wiltshire subjects. It has a post-mark
“Salisbury, 24 August.” The original is in the possession
of Mrs. G. Anstie, of Devizes, by whose kind permission it is

printed.

‘¢ Gussage All Sts. Aug. 21, 1772.

**T hope you got home without being caught in the heavy shower which fell
at St. Alban’s about half an hour after you set out. I staid there till Wednes-
day morning, in which time we examined every corner of the Abbey, ascended
the vaultings and towers, and found to my surprize the staircases and their
centre pillars all made of bricks originally circular, and not made so from
Square,—a proof that such materials were not Roman, but Norman manufacture.

My fellow travellers left me at Rickmansworth, after having with much
difficulty obtained a sight of the gallery at Moore park, which has not its equal
that I have seen for rich tapestry and superb ceiling. At Gorhambury we saw
a singular portrait on wood of an ancestor of the Grimston’s, Standard-bearer
to the Conqueror, painted by Petrus Xt" |F- FU, which, in a paper pinned to it,
is made 1116, but must mean 1446. Walpole has not, I believe, noticed it.
‘Tis a good picture, and M. T. made a drawing of it.

I spent the Thursday at Sunning Hill with Mess". Wightwick and Claxton,
who enquired after you; and conducted me to Oakingham. I passed through
the end of the bustle of Reading races, &c., to the N. edge of Wilts. At
Lydiard Tregoze saw some sumptuous monuments of the two families of St.
John. At Malmesbury a fine morceau of early architecture. I went to the
over-built city of Bath, whose groupes of buildings would do honour to London,
but are ill connected and worse kept up. The Circus and Crescent have an air
of magnificence separately considered ; but no public buildings that I have yet
seen form a good tout ensemble with the surrounding town. Bath has delicious
country about it; but the amphitheatre of cultivation seen from the top of
Bratton Hill by Westbury is a most enchanting scene. On this hill is a noble
camp of 24 acres; and below it, a horse cut in chalk, 60 feet high.

I have now been a week in Dorset, visiting the antient and modern curiosities,
the author of the History, and his best friends, who are indeed the best people
in the country, and shew me great civility. Poor Hutchins was able to con-
verse with me two hours; with a faltering paralytic tongue, but clear ideas and
lively gratitude. I have been here with Mr. Wisenor 4 days. Our mornings
pass in seeing Lord Shaftesbury’s and other seats, and galloping over the

. ~
296 Family of Shuter of Winterbourne Gunner.

rich carpeting of the Downs ;—our afternoon’s in visits from agreeable neigh-
* bours. As soon as I can get out of the bustle of electioneering at Salisbury, I
shall set my face homewards, stopping a day or two at Godalming, to which
you direct your letter next week.

The opposite page presents you with two imperfect sketches of Stoke Church
by Windsor; with the tomb of Mrs. Antrobus and her sister Gray, whose son
lies by the side of it without any memorial as yet. The church, surrounded
with rosemary, stands on the edge of Mr. Pen’s park, and has narrowly escaped
being pulled down for obstructing his view. I hope you will make better
copies from these rude originals. Did you go to a sale of Zuccarelli’s drawings
at Turnford by Cheshunt last Monday, &c., by Lansford amongst a Mr. Perram’s
furniture.” [Here the letter ends abruptly. ]

Qurry—FAMILY or SHUTER, or WinTERBOURNE GUNNER.

New Canat, Saispury,
NovemsBer 3rp, 1865.

The Editors of the Wilts Magazine.
GENTLEMEN,

Seeing a query in the last No. of your Magazine respecting any
records of the family of Shuter in the parish of Winterbourne
Gunner, we shewed it to R. Blake, Esq., The Elms, Winterbourne
Dauntsey, who by the kind permission of the Rev. E. G. Griffith,
the Rector of Winterbourne Gunner, examined the Parish Register
and found the following entry :—

“61613, Will™. Shuter the sonne of Mr. John Shuter, Squier, was Baptized
the ———-— day of January, Anno dni, 1613 ne

Mr. Blake was unable to decipher the words where we have left
a blank, but we are sure the Rector would offer every facility in
his power for a more critical examination.

We are,
Your obedient Servants,
Brown & Co.

297

Donations tothe AWlusenm and Aibracy.

The Council haye pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the following
Donations presented to the Society.

By Cuantzs Gopwin, Ese., Bath:—Warner’s ‘History of Bath,” 4to.,
1801.

By the SomersEtsurreE Ancumotoaicat Society :—Their Proceedings during
the years 1863—4, 8vo., 1865.

By the Kirxenny AncuoLoeicaL Soctery :—Their Proceedings, No. 47 and
48, 8yo., 1865.

By Liewettyn Jewrrt, Eso., F.8.A.:—‘ The Reliquary,” No. 21, July, 1865.

By Mr. Joun Exren, Devizes:—Five ancient Deeds relating to property in
and near Devizes.

The Society is indebted to J. Yonge Akerman, Esq., F.S,A., for a volume of
very interesting Engrayings and Notes, relating to the county of Wilts.
They are upwards of a hundred and forty in number, and many of them are
rare,

Errata in Mr. HoppEr’s Paper.

Page 230, line 10 from bottom. For ‘‘ Nimyrsfield,” read ‘‘ Nympsfield.”
» 9) line 18 from top. For ‘‘Corclam” (in two places), read “‘ Corsham.”

END OF VOL. IX.

H. BULL, Priater and Publisher, Devizes.

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